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Bolsonaro Says Medication-Induced 'Hallucinations' Led Him to Tamper Ankle Monitor

03:20 AM, 11/24/2025
Bolsonaro Says Medication-Induced 'Hallucinations' Led Him to Tamper Ankle Monitor

Jair Bolsonaro told a Supreme Court hearing that medication-induced "hallucinations" prompted him to tamper with his electronic ankle monitor while under house arrest. He says he used a soldering iron, then "came to his senses" and alerted custody officers. Police reported the device was violated at 12:08am (03:08 GMT), and Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered his arrest. Bolsonaro is appealing a 27-year, three-month sentence for attempting to overturn the 2022 election; the court panel will vote on a pre-emptive arrest order on Monday.

Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro told a Supreme Court hearing that hallucinatory side effects from a recently prescribed medication prompted him to attempt to tamper with his electronic ankle monitoring device while under house arrest.

At a custody hearing on Sunday, held after his detention the previous day, Bolsonaro said he suffered a medicine-induced episode of "paranoia" that led him to take a soldering iron to the bracelet tracking his movements. Assistant Judge Luciana Sorrentino summarized his account in a court document released after the online hearing:

"[Bolsonaro] said he had 'hallucinations' that there was some wiretap in the ankle monitoring, so he tried to uncover it."

Bolsonaro was serving house arrest while appealing a conviction for attempting to overturn Brazil's 2022 election results. Police detained him on Saturday after receiving reports that the monitoring device had been violated at 12:08am (03:08 GMT), prompting Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes to order his arrest.

The former president denied any intention to flee. He told the judge that a combination of medications prescribed by different doctors produced the episode, and that he had started one of those drugs only four days before his detention. According to the court filing, Bolsonaro "stated that, around midnight, he tampered with the ankle bracelet, then 'came to his senses' and stopped using the soldering iron, at which point he informed the officers in charge of his custody."

The Sunday hearing was largely procedural but gave Bolsonaro's lawyers an opportunity to renew requests that he remain under house arrest on health grounds; Justice de Moraes has previously rejected similar petitions. In September, a Supreme Court panel found Bolsonaro attempted to stage a coup after his 2022 defeat by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and sentenced him to 27 years and three months in prison. That same panel is due to vote on a pre-emptive arrest order related to the conviction on Monday.

Speaking at a Group of 20 (G20) meeting in South Africa, President Lula briefly addressed Bolsonaro's detention: "The court ruled, that's decided. Everyone knows what he did," he told journalists.

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