Brazil’s ex-president Jair Bolsonaro left his home, where he is under house arrest, to undergo medical exams on Saturday, weeks before the Supreme Court rules whether he is guilty of plotting a coup.
The right-wing firebrand is accused of attempting to hold onto power despite his 2022 electoral defeat by the current leftist leader, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Bolsonaro, 70, has been under house arrest since early August for violating a judicial ban on using social networks to plead his case to the public.
A judge agreed to temporarily lift that measure so he could get medical attention for what Bolsonaro’s attorneys said were gastrointestinal problems resulting from a 2018 stabbing attack while he campaigned for president.
In particular, their request noted his chronic “reflux and hiccup symptoms” and need to go to the hospital for tests, including an intestinal endoscopy.
Doctor Leandro Echenique told journalists outside the hospital that the tests showed Bolsonaro recently had two bouts of pneumonia.
“He is making a good recovery,” the doctor added.
Claudio Birolini, who was Bolsonaro’s surgeon from 2019 to 2022, said “everything is in order,” but the ex-president continues to suffer from inflammation of the esophagus and some reflux.
“The fact that he is home now hinders his physical activity a little, so we are suggesting that he intensify his weight training exercises…because he cannot walk, he cannot do anything like that,” the surgeon said.
– Supporters turn out –
Bolsonaro arrived on Saturday morning at a medical center in the capital, Brasilia, where he briefly greeted around 20 supporters waiting for him outside with Brazilian, Israeli, and US flags.
“We believe that Jair Bolsonaro will be president of Brazil in 2026,” Marcia Maria, a supporter waiting outside the hospital, told AFP. “The people demand it.”
The former president did not address journalists who were also gathered. He then returned home.
Brazil’s Supreme Court will begin deciding on September 2 on the coup attempt charges against Bolsonaro, who led Latin America’s largest country from 2019 to 2022.
He faces up to 40 years in prison if found guilty.
Bolsonaro has maintained his innocence and earned support from US President Donald Trump, who has called the trial a “witch hunt.”
Citing Bolsonaro’s “politically motivated persecution,” Trump has signed an executive order slapping 50 percent tariffs on many Brazilian imports.
