Federal Police expertise concluded this Monday that former president Jair Bolsonaro tried to open the electronic ankle bracelet with a “heat source” and identified the presence of iron in the burned part of the equipment, which is made of plastic. The report analyzed the physical damage caused to the device and was completed today.
According to the expert opinion, this finding corroborates the report prepared by the Federal District Penitentiary Administration Secretariat (SEAPE-DF). The violation of the ankle bracelet was one of the main arguments cited by Federal Supreme Court (STF) minister Alexandre de Moraes to order Bolsonaro’s preventive detention last Saturday.
To produce this first report, experts used photographic recording techniques, microscopic analysis, X-ray microfluorescence examination and comparative tests with an intact, undamaged ankle bracelet. These tests detected the presence of the iron element in the burned area. According to the examination, there was “significant damage” to the device” and “use of a heat source”. The examination indicated that the equipment was subjected to heating aimed at opening the anklet box.
Continues after advertising
A second examination is being prepared and should analyze whether there was damage to the electronic circuit of the ankle bracelet. The PF wants to know, for example, which sensor was activated during the burning of the material.
The tests are being carried out at the National Institute of Criminalistics of the Federal Police (INC), whose laboratories are next to the PF Superintendence building in Brasília, where Bolsonaro is imprisoned.
The forensic information is consistent with the former president’s report given to Seape-DF, according to which he said he used a “soldering iron” to try to open the equipment. According to the secretariat’s document, the equipment had “clear and important signs of damage”, including burn marks around the entire circumference, especially in the region where the case closed.
