Last week, the minister of the (Federal Supreme Court) sent his chief of staff to a meeting, according to what was reported to Sheet three people linked to the Brasília penitentiary system.
Cristina Kusahara made the visit accompanied by judge Leila Cury, head of the Criminal Executions Court of the Federal District. According to reports, Moraes’ assistant visited three different locations in Papuda. When contacted, Moraes’ office did not respond.
The trip to the famous Brasília prison takes place on the eve of the Supreme Court’s ex-president () and six others convicted of leading the 2022 coup plot. The First Panel will analyze from Friday (7) the first embargoes for declaration — a mechanism through which the defenses raise doubts and contradictions in the sentence.
The visit took more time in PDF 1 (Federal District Penitentiary number 1). The unit is intended for prisoners in a closed regime and has four blocks — one of which is the maximum security wing.
Each of these blocks has spaces for social reintegration, intimate visits, sunbathing, classroom and other activities provided for in the Criminal Executions Law.
The inspection took place in at least two blocks of PDF 1, passing through areas designated for medium and maximum security. From there, Moraes’ assistant visited the 19th Military Police Battalion of the Federal District — a place known as “Papudinha”, where former minister Anderson Torres was preventively detained.
A criminal police officer consulted by the Sheet said that the visit mobilized all the blocks of Papuda’s PDF 1. Representatives of the penitentiary complex showed the Supreme Court’s chief of staff rooms prepared for special prisons.
During the visit, Cristina did not say who could be imprisoned in Papuda after being convicted of the attempted coup d’état. In addition to Bolsonaro, six other defendants from the central nucleus received sentences to serve their sentences in a closed regime.
The visit by Moraes’ assistant raised alarm in the Government of the Federal District about the possibility of Bolsonaro being sent to prison after the end of the coup plot process, scheduled for this year.
On Monday (3), the Secretary of Penitentiary Administration of Brasília, Wenderson Souza e Teles, sent a letter to the office of Minister Alexandre de Moraes requesting that before his definitive arrest.
The objective, according to the document, is to assess whether Bolsonaro is able to stay in Papuda in the face of health problems.
“It is requested that convict Jair Messias Bolsonaro be subjected to medical evaluation by a specialized team, so that his clinical condition and compatibility with the medical and nutritional assistance available in prisons in this capital of the Republic can be assessed”, he says.
The document was and obtained by Sheet. In it, the secretary responsible for Brasília’s prisons states that Bolsonaro has undergone abdominal surgery in recent years.
“The request proves to be timely, since, during the in-person monitoring of the defendant, it was found that, on some occasions, in-person medical assessments were carried out at the monitoring location itself, avoiding travel for emergency escorts”, he adds.
The decision on where Bolsonaro and the others convicted of the coup plot will be detained rests exclusively with Minister Alexandre de Moraes. This definition will only be announced after the Supreme Court analyzes all defense resources.
The first appeals will be judged by the First Panel of the STF in a virtual session, starting on Friday.
Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison for leading the 2022 coup plot. He is the first former president in the history of Brazil punished for the crime of a coup d’état.
Bolsonaro’s most likely destinations are Papuda, a cell at the Federal Police Superintendency in Brasília or house arrest.
Supreme Court ministers rule out the possibility of Bolsonaro being imprisoned in a military unit. One of the reasons given is the intention to prevent a possible detention of Bolsonaro in the Urban Military Sector, in Brasília, from causing a new gathering of people in front of military installations — like the coup camps set up after the 2022 elections.
The former president’s defense avoids commenting on where Bolsonaro will be detained. She says she believes in reversing the situation with the appeals to be judged in the Supreme Court. The lawyers, however, are already equipped with medical reports to request house arrest, alleging health problems.
