Brazil’s former President Bolsonaro arrested days before starting his 27-year prison sentence

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s federal police arrested former President Jair Bolsonaro preemptively on Saturday, days before he was set to begin his 27-year prison sentence for leading a coup attempt, officials said.

A close aide said the embattled former leader was taken to the police force headquarters in the capital, Brasilia, from his house arrest.

The force said in a short statement, which did not name Bolsonaro, that it acted on the request of Brazil’s Supreme Court.

Neither Brazil’s federal police nor the Supreme Court provided more details.

Bolsonaro’s aide Andriely Cirino confirmed to The Associated Press that the arrest took place around 6 a.m. on Saturday.

The 70-year-old former president was taken from his house in a gated community in the upscale Jardim Botanico neighborhood to the federal police headquarters, Cirino said.

Bolsonaro was placed under house arrest in early August, weeks before he was convicted in his coup trial. His lawyers were pleading with Brazil’s Supreme Court to keep him at home to serve his sentence, citing his poor health.

Like most of his colleagues, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversaw the coup case, rarely carries out decisions on Saturdays, unless there are security risks involved.

Local media reported that Bolsonaro, who was Brazil’s president from 2019 to 2022, was expected to begin serving his sentence sometime next week after the far-right leader exhausted all appeals of his conviction for leading a coup attempt.

Saturday’s preemptive arrest does not mean Bolsonaro will remain at the federal police headquarters to serve his sentence. Brazilian law requires that all convicts start their sentences in prison.

One of the former president’s sons, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, has been egging on supporters to take to the streets in defense of his father since Thursday.

Some of Bolsonaro’s supporters, who claim he is being politically persecuted, are expected to rally outside the federal police headquarters throughout the weekend.

The former president and several of his allies were convicted by a panel of Supreme Court justices for attempting to overthrow Brazil’s democracy following his 2022 election loss to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Prosecutors said the coup plot included plans to kill Lula and to encourage an insurrection in early 2023.

Bolsonaro was also found guilty on charges of leading an armed criminal organization and attempting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law. Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing.

He remains a key figure in Brazilian politics, despite being ineligible to run again at least until 2030, after a separate ruling by Brazil’s top electoral court. Polls show he would be a strong candidate in next year’s vote if allowed to run.

Bolsonaro is an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has called his trial a “witch hunt.” Bolsonaro was mentioned in a July order by the U.S. administration raising tariffs on several Brazilian exports by 50%. Trump on Friday dropped most of the higher tariffs on Brazilian exports.