He contested the legal system and the legal system triumphed.
Sixty days following getting a 27-year sentence for trying to “eradicate” Brazil’s political system, former president Jair Bolsonaro at last looks jail-bound.
The found-guilty plotter – who's been under residential detention in his mansion while a number of court processes and challenges play out – is broadly anticipated to be incarcerated in the near future, during growing talk that he will be moved to a well-known high-security prison.
Over Bolsonaro’s 40-year political career, the far-right former soldier showed scant compassion for Brazil’s prison population.
“Why should we provide these dirtbags a easy time?” he once pondered. “They deserve to be fucked, end of story. That's my view.”
In another instance, Bolsonaro declared: “Should you not wish to finish behind bars, the only thing required is to avoid sexual assault, abduction or theft.”
But the prospect of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda prison maximum security prison in Brasília has shocked supporters, a group of four this week toured the complex in an apparent attempt to prevent the judiciary from transferring him there.
Izalci Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s political party who was among that group, stated he expected the septuagenarian politician to be jailed in the following week and a half and was concerned his location could be Papuda.
He asserted Bolsonaro’s acute intestinal ailments – the outcome of a almost deadly stabbing during the last political campaign – implied it would be hazardous to keep the ex-leader there. “His condition is very grave. He will not be able to manage if they move him to Papuda … It could be dreadful,” said the senator, who also voiced anxiety about packed cells and the standard of prison meals.
While visiting Papuda, Lucas noted witnessing cells accommodating forty inmates: “That’s practically one square metre per prisoner.
“We spoke to the prisoners and they grumble, of course, of the terrible food,” remarked the senator.
The senator isn't the sole person expressing views ahead of the former president’s expected incarceration.
Penning in a leading publication, a different supporter, the ex- communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “harsh” end to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” political career and asserted Brazil was about to witness “the biggest wrong in its history”.
“It is an injustice that erodes the hearts of countless of Brazilians,” he stated.
It is possibly correct considering the significant support Bolsonaro retains on the conservative side. Yet his expected imprisonment has also pleased the spirits of millions other people who feel he should be imprisoned for plotting to block the incoming president from becoming president – and even plotting to have him murdered.
Reimont Otoni, a politician for the sitting president's political party, said: “No one wants Bolsonaro to be placed in a hole. Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be put in isolation. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We want him to receive respectful treatment – but respectful treatment while incarcerated. He cannot continue being his personal jailer for his lifetime.”
He observed how Bolsonaro backers, who have for a long time applauding the tough conditions of prisoners, had suddenly become aware to their privileges. “Just now has the far-right – which has consistently asserted that basic rights should not be for criminals – decided to tour a penitentiary to find out what circumstances are truly like,” he stated.
“Bolsonaro is a criminal,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he deserved “shameful, insulting treatment”.
Despite talk that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which presently holds about thousands of prisoners, his expected location appears to be a close prison for law enforcement and other “unique” prisoners called Papudinha (Small Papuda).
His potential cell are considerably more comfortable than those in the primary facility, although nevertheless a world away from the luxury Bolsonaro had while occupying the stunning leader's home, about 12 miles away.
According to sources, the room Bolsonaro could expect to reside in in Papudinha measures about 24 sq metres – roughly the size of vehicle spaces – and contains a 12 sq metre restroom with a bathing area and a 12 square meter veranda. “Bolsonaro would be authorized to have a TV and additionally a minibar in his cell as long as they were provided by his relatives,” information stated.
Senator Lucas condemned the talked-about idea to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a type of payback” on the part of the judicial authority who oversaw Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will determine his fate in the {
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