SAO PAULO, Dec 19 (Reuters) – Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Friday authorized former President Jair Bolsonaro to leave the Federal Police Superintendency in Brasilia, where he is serving a 27-year prison sentence, for a surgical procedure to treat a hernia.
Moraes’ decision follows a request from Bolsonaro’s defense lawyers last week, when they also asked the justice for the right-wing leader to serve out his sentence under “humanitarian house arrest.”
He denied the request for house arrest and did not stipulate a date for the procedure, which should be selected by lawyers.
“The defendant is being held in a location very close to the private hospital where he receives emergency medical care… so there is no harm in the event of a possible need for emergency transport,” Moraes said in his decision.
Bolsonaro was convicted in September for plotting a coup after losing the 2022 presidential election.
The judge had previously signed off on Federal Police physicians conducting a medical examination of Bolsonaro, which happened on Wednesday, to conclude if any procedures were necessary given his health condition.
The Federal Police released their conclusions on Friday, saying the former president should undergo a procedure to treat the hernia.
“Although there is a safe possibility of non-surgical treatment, surgeons recommend surgical intervention when an inguinal hernia is discovered,” it said.
The former president, who was stabbed in the abdomen during a 2018 campaign event, has a history of hospitalizations and surgeries related to the attack.
Before his arrest last month due to flight risk, Bolsonaro was kept for more than 100 days under house arrest for violating precautionary measures in a separate case over allegedly courting U.S. interference to halt the case against him.
(Reporting by Luciana Magalhães and Fernando Cardoso; Editing by Kylie Madry)
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