Jailed Bolsonaro Blames “Hallucinations” for Tampering With Ankle Monitor

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro told a judge on Sunday that a nervous breakdown and hallucinations caused by a medication change led him to tamper with his ankle monitor, a day after federal police arrested him on suspicion he was plotting to flee, NBC News and PBS News (both via the Associated Press) reported.

Federal agents took Mr. Bolsonaro, 70, from his home in Brasilia on Saturday under an order from Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, PBS News and NBC News reported. He had been under house arrest and was ordered to wear the monitor after being deemed a flight risk. Justice de Moraes said the device was violated at 12:08 a.m. Saturday. Mr. Bolsonaro’s lawyers said that did not take place, PBS News reported.

In a hearing on Sunday, an assistant judge, Luciana Sorrentino, wrote that Mr. Bolsonaro said he had “hallucinations” that there was a wiretap in the device, so he tried to uncover it, according to a Supreme Court document cited by NBC News. He described “a certain paranoia,” said he had not been sleeping well and again denied he meant to escape. He started touching the monitor late at night and stopped around midnight, NBC News reported.

Justice de Moraes called the arrest preventive, saying it was meant to head off a possible escape, PBS News reported.

Mr. Bolsonaro’s lawyers said the arrest “causes deep perplexity,” arguing that the event in question was a prayer vigil rather than a protest, PBS News reported.

Michelle Bolsonaro, the former first lady, was outside Brasilia when federal police took him into custody, both outlets reported, and President Lula was attending the G20 summit in South Africa. Mr. Bolsonaro’s lawyers have asked that he serve his sentence at home because of poor health, according to NBC News and PBS News, and NBC noted that Justice de Moraes had rejected similar requests before. Both outlets said the five-justice Supreme Court panel was due to vote Monday on the arrest.

A panel of Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled in September that Mr. Bolsonaro tried to stage a coup to remain in power after losing the 2022 election to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and sentenced him to 27 years in prison, both outlets reported.

The case has a U.S. dimension: PBS News described Mr. Bolsonaro as an ally of President Trump.