Bolsonaro Vows Not to Flee If Brazil Court Sends Him to Jail

(Bloomberg) -- Former President Jair Bolsonaro said he won’t flee Brazil if sentenced to prison, a week after a judge barred him from traveling to Donald Trump’s inauguration amid investigations into an alleged coup attempt.

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“I’ll go to jail,” Bolsonaro said in an interview with CNN Brasil on Thursday. “I won’t leave Brazil. I won’t run away from Brazil.”

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Bolsonaro has been the subject of numerous criminal investigations since leaving office at the end of 2022, including a probe into whether he and his allies attempted to undermine President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government following that year’s election.

Federal Police have recommended criminal charges against Bolsonaro and 36 others over the apparent coup plot, while also alleging the former leader had full knowledge of a plan to assassinate Lula, his vice president and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

Brazil’s prosecutor general’s office is currently weighing whether to file formal charges against Bolsonaro. Authorities have also recommended charges in a probe involving the alleged illegal sale of gifts received from foreign governments, and another focused on falsified vaccination records.

Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing in each case.

Moraes blocked his request to travel to Washington for Trump’s inauguration, citing the “possibility of an escape attempt.” Authorities seized Bolsonaro’s passport last year as part of the coup investigation.

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Bolsonaro said Thursday that he could have fled Brazil when he traveled to the US after his 2022 election defeat, or during a trip to Argentina to attend President Javier Milei’s inauguration in 2023.

“I came back here knowing all the risks I’m taking,” he said.

Bolsonaro also acknowledged that he may not be able to run for president again in 2026, despite repeated suggestions that he would succeed in overturning his eight-year political ban. In June 2023, Brazil’s electoral court barred him from seeking public office, saying he had abused his power by using a meeting with foreign ambassadors to cast doubt on the country’s voting system.

He told CNN Brasil that his son Flavio Bolsonaro, a senator, would be an “excellent” candidate. He would also have no problem supporting a run by his wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, “as long as she appoints me chief of staff,” he said.

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