Brazil’s federal police arrest former President Jair Bolsonaro preemptively, days before he was set to begin his 27-year prison sentence for leading a coup attempt, officials say.
A close aide says the embattled former leader was taken to the police force headquarters in the capital, Brasilia.
The force says in a short statement, which did not name Bolsonaro, that it acted on the request of Brazil’s Supreme Court.
Neither Brazil’s federal police nor the Supreme Court provide more details.
Bolsonaro’s aide Andriely Cirino confirms to The Associated Press that the arrest took place around 6 a.m. this morning.
The 70-year-old former president was taken from his house in a gated community in the upscale Jardim Botanico neighborhood to the federal police headquarters, Cirino says.
Local media report that Bolsonaro, who was Brazil’s president from 2019 to 2022, was expected to begin serving his sentence sometime next week after the far-right leader exhausted all appeals of his conviction for leading a coup attempt.
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