{"id":172863,"date":"2025-11-23T08:41:56","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T08:41:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/jair-bolsonaro-arrested-after-tampering-with-ankle-tag-out-of-curiosity-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T08:41:56","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T08:41:56","slug":"jair-bolsonaro-arrested-after-tampering-with-ankle-tag-out-of-curiosity-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/jair-bolsonaro-arrested-after-tampering-with-ankle-tag-out-of-curiosity-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Jair Bolsonaro arrested after tampering with ankle tag \u2018out of curiosity\u2019 – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brazilian ex-president says he used soldering iron on device and is now in custody over fears he was going to abscond
Brazil\u2019s former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro<\/a> has claimed he tried to damage his electronic ankle monitor \u201cout of curiosity\u201d after he was arrested at his villa owing to suspicions he was poised to abscond.
In a video released by the supreme court, Bolsonaro \u2013 who was recently sentenced to 27 years in prison for masterminding a military coup \u2013 can be heard admitting to a security official that he had used a soldering iron to tamper with the black tag.
The video showed the device badly damaged and burned on both sides, but still on his ankle.
Bolsonaro was arrested shortly after 6am on Saturday by federal police after a supreme court judge issued a preventive arrest warrant because he was poised to flee to a foreign embassy. The 70-year-old politician was taken to a federal police base, seven miles from the presidential palace he occupied from 2019 to 2022, when he lost the election and tried to launch a military coup.
The arrest of Bolsonaro, who had been living under house arrest in the capital, Bras\u00edlia, since August, was ordered by the supreme court justice, Alexandre de Moraes, as a result of fears the former president might make a run for one of Bras\u00edlia\u2019s many diplomatic compounds to avoid punishment for the failed power grab.
In September, Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison over a scheme to stop the 2022 election winner, Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva, taking office. However, the court has yet to order Bolsonaro\u2019s imprisonment for those crimes while a series of legal procedures and appeals play out.
Amid growing speculation that Bolsonaro would be imprisoned in the coming days, supporters had been planning to hold a \u201cvigil\u201d on Saturday night outside the luxury condominium where their leader has been living under house arrest.
The protest had been called by Bolsonaro\u2019s senator son, Fl\u00e1vio Bolsonaro, in a social media video: \u201cAre you going to fight for your country or are you going to watch everything on your mobile phone while sitting at home on your sofa?\u201d He invited Bolsonaristas to \u201ccome and fight with us\u201d.
In his ruling ordering Bolsonaro\u2019s arrest on Saturday morning, Moraes said it was possible the vigil could be used as a diversion to help the former president escape to a foreign embassy.
Adding to those suspicions, Moraes said Bolsonaro\u2019s electronic ankle monitor had been tampered with at 12.08am on Saturday. That suggested \u201cthe convict had planned to break the ankle monitor in order to ensure the success of his escape, aided by the confusion caused by the protest called by his son\u201d.
Moraes noted how Bolsonaro, who counts the US president, Donald Trump, among his international allies, lived about 15 minutes from the US embassy. In August, Bolsonaro was accused of seeking asylum in Argentina, where another rightwing ally, Javier Milei, holds power. In 2024, Bolsonaro mysteriously spent two nights inside the embassy<\/a> of Hungary.
Speculation that Bolsonaro\u2019s arrest was imminent had reached fever pitch in recent days as allies voiced outrage at the prospect of the former president being sent to a maximum security prison in Brasil\u00eda called Papuda<\/a>.
Lula supporters have voiced satisfaction that the ex-president appeared jail bound. \u201cThe message to Brazil<\/a>, and to the world, is that crime doesn\u2019t pay,\u201d said Reimont Otoni, a Workers\u2019 party (PT) congressman, noting how Bolsonaro\u2019s plot included a conspiracy to assassinate Lula.
Bolsonaro\u2019s evangelical wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, responded to her husband\u2019s arrest by posting an excerpt from Psalm 121 on social media. \u201cThe Lord will keep you from all harm \u2013 he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore,\u201d it said.
Congressman S\u00f3stenes Cavalcante, one of Bolsonaro\u2019s closest allies, called the arrest \u201cthe biggest [act of] political persecution in Brazilian history\u201d.
Bolsonaro\u2019s lawyers voiced \u201cprofound perplexity\u201d at their client\u2019s detention in a sparsely decorated 12 sq metre police bedroom and vowed to appeal against a decision they claimed would put the former president\u2019s life at risk, given his \u201cdelicate\u201d health.
Tal\u00edria Petrone, a leftwing congresswoman from Rio, captured the joy among progressives, as Bolsonaro\u2019s detractors were filmed opening bottles of sparkling wine and setting off fireworks outside the federal police HQ. \u201cToday the alarm clock sounded different: it was the news of Bolsonaro\u2019s arrest illuminating the morning,\u201d she tweeted, adding: \u201cBrazil smiles. A wonderful day.\u201d
Petra Costa, a film-maker and the director of documentaries about Bolsonaro\u2019s attacks on Brazilian democracy, was also celebrating. \u201cBrazil just succeeded where America failed. Bringing a former president who assaulted democracy to justice,\u201d she wrote on Facebook. <\/strong><\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brazilian ex-president says he used soldering iron on device and is now in custody over fears he was going to abscondBrazil\u2019s former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro has claimed he tried to damage his electronic ankle monitor \u201cout of curiosity\u201d after he was arrested at his villa owing to suspicions he was poised to abscond.In a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":172864,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-172863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}