Brazil's Bolsonaro says hallucinations led him to violate ankle monitoring and cause his arrest

"On his first full day in jail, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro told a judge on Sunday he had violated his ankle monitoring the day before at his house arrest because of a nervous breakdown and hallucinations caused by a change in his medication. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the 70-year-old leader's preemptive jailing Saturday for he is considered a flight risk."

"(Bolsonaro) said he had hallucinations' that there was some wire tap in the ankle monitoring, so he tried to uncover it, assistant judge Luciana Sorrentino said, as reported in a Supreme Court document published on Sunday shortly after her online meeting with the former president. Sorrentino added that Bolsonaro told her he did not remember having a breakdown of this magnitude in another occasion, and speculated it might have been caused by a change in his medication last week. He once again denied that he intended to escape."

"The document also says Bolsonaro also told the judge he hadn't been sleeping well and was feeling a certain paranoia that stimulated his curiosity into opening the ankle monitoring device. (Bolsonaro) said he was with his daughter, his elder brother and an aide at his house and none of them saw what he was doing to the ankle monitoring, the document says. He said he started to touch it late at night and stopped around midnight."

On his first full day in jail, Jair Bolsonaro told a judge he had violated his ankle monitor at home due to a nervous breakdown and hallucinations after a medication change. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered preemptive jailing because Bolsonaro is considered a flight risk. Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in September for attempting a coup to remain president after the 2022 electoral defeat. Assistant judge Luciana Sorrentino reported Bolsonaro said he hallucinated a wire tap in the ankle device and tried to uncover it. Bolsonaro denied intending to escape and said he had not been sleeping well and felt paranoia. The Supreme Court panel will vote on the preemptive arrest order Monday.

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