Ex-president has to go to prison for a long time
Bolsonaro begins prison sentence in police station
Updated 11/25/2025 – 10:12 p.mReading time: 3 minutes
The legal remedies in the attempted coup proceedings have been exhausted. Now Brazil’s ex-President Bolsonaro must begin his 27-year prison sentence.
After his conviction for an attempted coup, Brazilian ex-president Jair Bolsonaro must begin his 27-year prison sentence at the federal police headquarters in the capital Brasilia. The former head of state (2019-2022) will initially serve his sentence at the police station where he has been in custody since the weekend, decided federal judge Alexandre de Moraes.
The Supreme Court had previously declared the verdict against the ex-military officer to be final. According to the court’s decision, Bolsonaro’s lawyers can no longer file any further appeals. This paved the way for the prison sentence to be carried out for an attempted coup.
Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison by the Supreme Court in September for an attempted coup after his election defeat against incumbent head of state Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Bolsonaro was arrested at the weekend as a preventive measure after attempting to tamper with his electronic ankle bracelet. He admitted that he used a soldering iron on the surveillance device “out of curiosity.” At his hearing, Bolsonaro said he had “a hallucination” that the ankle bracelet was being tapped and so he tried to open the cover.
Federal judge Alexandre de Moraes spoke of a “concrete flight risk” and a “threat to public order”. The 70-year-old had been under house arrest since August because of violations of court conditions. According to his lawyers, he is in serious health condition and suffers, among other things, from lung infections, gastritis, skin cancer, persistent hiccup crises and complications after the knife attack on him during the 2018 election campaign.
According to a report by the state news agency Agencia Brasil, Bolsonaro has a cell in the police headquarters that is approximately 12 square meters in size and was recently renovated. The room therefore has white walls, a single bed, cupboards, a side table, a TV, a minibar, air conditioning and a window as well as a private bathroom.
In addition to Bolsonaro, the Supreme Court also declared the sentences for six co-defendants final. Bolsonaro’s lawyer criticized the decision. “It is a serious mistake to allow these judgments to become final,” Paulo Cunha Bueno told the G1 news portal. In his opinion, the defense has until Friday to file another appeal to change the verdict.
