Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes decided to place former President Jair Bolsonaro back under house arrest on health grounds, a court decision showed.
Bolsonaro, 71, has been serving a 27-year prison sentence since November for plotting a coup after losing the 2022 election to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Moraes allowed the former president to move to house arrest for 90 days after he is discharged from a hospital in Brasilia to allow his full recovery from pneumonia, according to an order published Tuesday.
“After this period, the presence of the requirements necessary for maintaining humanitarian house arrest will be reassessed, including a medical examination if needed,” the justice wrote.
The decision came after the 71-year-old former president was hospitalized earlier this month, his latest health scare since he was stabbed on the campaign trail during the 2018 election he won. Bolsonaro left the intensive care unit Monday but remains hospitalized.
Lawyers for the right-wing leader, who governed from 2019 to 2022, had long sought Moraes’ permission for him to serve his sentence under “humanitarian house arrest,” but the justice had previously denied all requests.
The reversal comes after Bolsonaro was admitted earlier this month to the intensive care unit of a Brasilia hospital with an acute form of pneumonia. He has been discharged from the ICU, a Tuesday medical note showed.
