Photo credit: AP
His claim comes a day after his arrest in Brasília, as the Supreme Court prepares to vote Monday on whether to uphold his pre-emptive detention, reported AP.Bolsonaro was detained early Saturday after security officials detected that his device had been tampered with shortly after midnight. Justice Alexandre de Moraes authorised the arrest, citing fears the former leader might try to flee to a foreign embassy ahead of beginning the 27-year sentence he received in September for plotting to overturn the 2022 election. According to The Guardian, the 70-year-old denied he had been planning to flee his rented mansion, where he has been under house arrest since August.At the hearing, assistant judge Luciana Sorrentino said Bolsonaro reported suffering hallucinations and paranoia after starting a strong painkiller and an antidepressant. According to a Supreme Court document cited by AP, he said he believed the monitor contained “some wire tap” and tried to uncover it. He also said he did “not remember having a breakdown of this magnitude before.”Before offering the explanation about a psychotic episode, Bolsonaro had initially told officials he had tried to open the monitor because he wanted to inspect it, footage showed, using a soldering iron that left the device’s cap heavily damaged. He insisted he was not attempting to escape and said the episode occurred late at home while his daughter, elder brother and an aide were present. He claimed he stopped tampering around midnight.Political observers and foes have questioned his shifting account, especially as footage shows Bolsonaro telling a security official he had interfered with the device earlier.Federal police executed the arrest order around 6 am on Saturday and transferred Bolsonaro to a federal police base, where he remains held. He has been under house arrest since August.Bolsonaro’s lawyers again asked that he be returned to house arrest on health grounds, a request De Moraes has repeatedly rejected. The justice, however, did authorise a visit from former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro.Bolsonaro’s detention comes days before he was expected to begin serving the 27-year, three-month sentence for attempting to block Lula from taking office. Although convicted, he had not yet received a final arrest warrant while some appeals were pending. He remains barred from running for public office until 2030.
