After one Fall in his prison cell is Brazil’s ultra-right Former President Jair Bolsonaro went to the hospital on Wednesday. Bolsonaro hit his head in the fall on Tuesday, his wife said. Initially, a Supreme Court judge refused to transfer Bolsonaro to the hospital and demanded more information about his health.
On Wednesday, the 70-year-old was admitted to the DF Star private hospital in the capital Brasília. When Bolsonaro was examined after his fall, the police doctor did not find a transfer to a clinic necessary, but only recommended observation. The police spoke of “minor injuries”. However, the former president’s lawyers demanded an examination in a clinic.
Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes has long been known as Bolsonaro’s opponent. At the beginning of January, he rejected the transfer of the right-wing radical politician to house arrest instead of prison because of his health problems. But now he agreed to be transferred to the hospital.
Attempted coup after electoral defeat
Bolsonaro ruled the largest Latin American country from 2019 to 2022. Last September he was found guilty of inciting his supporters to storm the Supreme Court, the Presidential Palace and the Congress in Brasília on January 8, 2023. He is said to have organized an attempted coup to overturn his election defeat against his left-wing successor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison.
The former head of state had been in house arrest for a time before he began his prison sentence in November. He damaged his electronic ankle bracelet with a soldering iron and was therefore taken to prison.
At Christmas, the ultra-right politician was transferred from prison to the hospital. The 70-year-old was operated on there for a hernia. He also underwent diaphragm surgery for chronic hiccups. Bolsonaro is still suffering from the effects of an abdominal injury from a knife attack during the 2018 election campaign.