Brazil Supreme Court rejects Bolsonaro request for house arrest on health concerns

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BRASÍLIA — Brazil's Supreme Court has rejected former president Jair Bolsonaro's request to convert his prison sentence for plotting a coup to house arrest, according to a ruling published Thursday.

Bolsonaro's lawyers submitted the request Wednesday, citing a "real risk of a sudden worsening" in health for the far-right ex-leader as the reason to serve his 27-year sentence at home.

Bolsonaro, 70, has been hospitalized for more than a week after undergoing surgery for a groin hernia and then a procedure to treat recurring bouts of hiccups.

"Contrary to what the defense alleges, there has been no worsening of Jair Messias Bolsonaro's health condition," judge Alexandre de Moraes stated in his decision.

In office from 2019 to 2022, the ex-president has for years been dealing with complications from an abdominal stab wound he suffered during a 2018 campaign rally, requiring several major surgeries.

Bolsonaro is expected to be discharged from the hospital on Thursday, according to his doctors.

He will then have to return to the small room where he is serving his sentence at a federal police facility in Brasilia.

In September, Brazil's Supreme Court found Bolsonaro guilty of conspiring to stay in power after losing 2022 elections to leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Bolsonaro had been under house arrest until shortly before the start of his prison term in November.

He was detained and sent to prison after he took a soldering iron to his ankle monitoring bracelet in what the court saw as an escape attempt.

Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing and claims to be the victim of political persecution.