Brazil’s federal police on Saturday arrested former President Jair Bolsonaro just days before he was due to begin serving a 27-year prison sentence for leading an attempted coup, officials said.
Police confirmed that the operation was carried out on the order of Brazil’s Supreme Court, though neither the force nor the court released further details.
Bolsonaro’s aide, Andriely Cirino, told the Associated Press that officers took the 70-year-old former leader from his home in the gated Jardim Botanico neighborhood of Brasilia at around 6 a.m. He was then taken to the federal police headquarters in the capital.
Local media reported that Bolsonaro — who governed Brazil from 2019 to 2022 — had exhausted all legal avenues to challenge his conviction and was expected to begin his prison term next week.