Brasilia – Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro,who is under house arrest while appealing the verdict on the attempted coup,damaged the monitoring bracelet worn on his leg. Bolsonaro argued he did it out of ‘curiosity’.
Reported AFP Sunday (23/11/2025), Bolsonaro was detained on Saturday after Brazil’s Supreme Court declared him a high risk of flight. The court said Bolsonaro, who was sentenced to 27 years in prison for plotting to thwart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s inauguration as Brazil’s president, had tried to disable his ankle monitor so he could escape.
Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes said Bolsonaro’s detention was a precautionary measure while the final appeal process took place. In a video published by the court,Bolsonaro admitted he had used solder on the monitoring bracelet out of ‘curiosity’.
The video shows the device badly damaged and on fire. Though, the device was still attached to his ankle.
bolsonaro, 70, who ruled Brazil from 2019 to 2022, was placed under house arrest in August and confined to a luxury condominium in the capital Brasilia. Judge Moraes said in his ruling that a planned vigil outside the condominium called by the former leader’s eldest son, Flavio Bolsonaro, could cause chaos that would ‘create an environment conducive to his escape’.