Minister of the STF responded to the defense’s request, but the measure is temporary and valid for 90 days once the former president is discharged
The minister of Alexandre de Moraes granted house arrest to the former president (PL), 71 years old, this Tuesday (24th March 2026) after 7 requests from the defense. The decision considers the health status of the former Chief Executive, who has presented successive medical complications in recent months, and the manifestation of Attorney General’s Office of the Republic.
The decision, however, has temporary character 90 days from the day Bolsonaro is discharged. Moraes said that, according to medical literature, the total recovery time in the 2 lungs of an elderly person (the former president is 71 years old) can last from 45 to 90 days. “After this period, the presence of the necessary requirements for maintaining humanitarian house arrest will be re-analyzed, including medical expertise if necessary”said the minister. Read (PDF – 794 kB).
The former president’s lawyers had filed different requests requesting the replacement of custody with home custody. They claimed clinical risk and the need for continuous medical monitoring. Ask uselderly, the defense cited recent episodes of hospitalization, worsening respiratory conditions and a history of diseases associated with the digestive and pulmonary systems.
Furthermore, on March 23, Attorney General Paulo Gonet defended the former president’s humanitarian house arrest due to his health condition. In the opinion, argued that the former president demands constant attention and understands that “the family environment is able to provide”. Leia a (PDF – 9 MB).
According to the PGR, Bolsonaro’s clinical evolution in recent days recommends easing his prison sentence, so that he can have full-time monitoring of his health status. For the Attorney General of the Republic, Paulo Gonet, the home stay will serve to preserve Bolsonaro’s physical and moral integrity.
Bolsonaro was diagnosed with bilateral bacterial bronchopneumonia caused by aspiration. According to medical reports, the former president’s health is stable and his treatment is improving, but when he was admitted to the hospital, he had a serious condition, including bacteremia, the presence of bacteria in the bloodstream, and a sharp drop in oxygen saturation, which reached 80%.
The former president’s recent medical history supported part of the arguments presented.
In September 2025, still under house arrest, Bolsonaro was taken to the hospital after experiencing a drop in blood pressure, vomiting and persistent hiccups. Tests carried out days before had already shown anemia and residual signs of pneumonia. Read the (PDF – 124 kB).
PREVIOUS ORDERS
The former president’s defense has already filed 7 requests for house arrest since Bolsonaro was preventively arrested and then began serving his sentence. They occurred, respectively, in:
- 21.nov.2025: Lawyers asked for the sentence of 27 years and 3 months to be served under humanitarian house arrest for health reasons. Here’s the (PDF – 425 kB). At the time, the case had not yet become final. The request was filed shortly before Moraes ordered the former president’s arrest for attempting to escape. The lawyers argued that Bolsonaro was in good health “deeply weakened” and cited his 3 visits to the hospital since his house arrest;
- 23.nov.2025: occurred 1 day after information became public that the former president had tried to break his electronic ankle bracelet and Bolsonaro was transferred to the Regional Superintendence of the Federal Police of Brasília. The defense requested that the preventive detention be converted into a humanitarian home due to a situation of “mental confusion”resulting from the use of medication for hiccups. Here’s the of the demonstration (PDF – 267 kB).
- 15.dez.2025: defense requested authorization to carry out emergency surgery and the granting of humanitarian house arrest due to the worsening health condition of the former head of the Executive. Lawyers stated that Bolsonaro has hernias on both sides of his groin, which can trap or compress part of the intestine. According to the defense, imaging tests carried out on Sunday (Nov 14) confirmed the evolution of the clinical picture, which would make immediate surgical intervention necessary.
- 31.dez.2025: Lawyers once again asked for authorization for humanitarian house arrest so that Bolsonaro could serve the rest of his sentence as soon as he was discharged from DF Star Hospital, in Brasília, where he had been hospitalized for 7 days. He was hospitalized since December 24th to undergo surgery to correct a bilateral inguinal hernia and showed improvement in his hiccuping episodes;
- 15.jan.2026: defense filed a new request, this time citing the fall suffered by the former president on January 6th. The fall led minister Alexandre de Moraes to transfer Bolsonaro to Papudinha, where he remains to this day. Read the (PDF – 520 KB);
- 11.fev.2026: Lawyers made a new request for house arrest on a humanitarian basis based on the report drawn up by the Federal Police’s medical expertise, which concluded that the should be analyzed. Here’s the (PDF – 2MB);
- 17.mar.2026: In the last request, the defense cited “the severity and rapid evolution of the clinical picture” of the former president, who is admitted to the DF Star Hospital, in Brasília, where he is being treated for bilateral bacterial pneumonia. According to lawyers, “what is now being examined, therefore, no longer refers to abstract hypotheses or merely projected risk, but rather the materialization of a serious clinical event, compatible with the medical warnings that had been repeatedly presented in the records”. Read the of the request (PDF – 428 kB).
MEDICAL HISTORY
In December 2025, Bolsonaro was hospitalized again and underwent surgery for a bilateral inguinal hernia. During hospitalization, he presented new hiccups and underwent phrenic nerve block procedures, in addition to tests to investigate gastroesophageal reflux. Read the (PDF – 120 kB).
In January 2026, he suffered a fall in custody and suffered mild head trauma. At the time, doctors indicated the possibility of a drug interaction related to the treatment of hiccups, which could increase the risk of recurrent episodes.
In March of this year, the former president was hospitalized again after experiencing a fever, episodes of vomiting and a drop in oxygen saturation. The diagnosis was bilateral bacterial bronchopneumonia of probable aspiration origin.
MORAES DECISIONS
In August 2025, Alexandre de Moraes ordered the former president’s house arrest for non-compliance with precautionary measures. According to the order, Bolsonaro had circumvented restrictions imposed by the STF by using allies’ social networks to disseminate content considered irregular. Read the of the decision (PDF – 17 MB).
In November, Moraes converted the measure into preventive detention, citing non-compliance with the imposed conditions and possible escape attempt. Bolsonaro was taken to the Federal Police Superintendence in Brasília.
On January 15, the minister ordered the transfer of the former president to the so-called Papudinha, in Complexo da Papuda, and requested an evaluation by a Federal Police medical board. Here’s the (PDF – 150 kB).
In the early hours of March 13, according to a defense petition, Bolsonaro felt unwell in his cell, with fever, vomiting and a drop in oxygen saturation. Read the (PDF – 428 kB).
Given the evolution of the clinical picture and the defense’s statements, Moraes decided to grant house arrest, with monitoring and restrictions defined by the STF.
