Bolsonaro Arrested, Starts 27-Year Coup Sentence

Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro was taken into federal police custody on Saturday, ending more than 100 days of house arrest and marking the beginning of his 27-year prison sentence for orchestrating a coup attempt following his 2022 election defeat.

The 70-year-old Bolsonaro, who led Brazil from 2019 to 2022, was arrested around 6 a.m. at his home in the upscale Jardim Botânico neighborhood of Brasília, a gated community where he had been confined since early August. Federal police transported him to their headquarters in the capital without using handcuffs and with instructions to respect his dignity, according to Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who ordered the preemptive detention. Officials confirmed Bolsonaro underwent intake examinations at the facility later that morning.

Moraes, overseeing the case, ruled that Bolsonaro posed a high flight risk after violating the terms of his electronic ankle monitor, which he had worn since mid-July. The judge cited evidence that Bolsonaro intended to tamper with the device during a demonstration organized by his son, Flávio Bolsonaro, outside the family home in Brasília. In his written decision, Moraes stated that...