‘Out of curiosity’: Bolsonaro damages ankle monitor with hot iron

Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro damaged his electronic ankle bracelet with a soldering iron hours before his arrest, according to video released by the Supreme Court.

The footage shows Bolsonaro telling an officer he had applied “hot iron” to the device “out of curiosity.” The plastic casing around the device appears to be scorched, though the officer said the core mechanism seemed intact. Asked whether he used an iron, he replies: “No, a soldering iron.”

Bolsonaro insisted he had not tried to remove the ankle bracelet.

The 70-year-old had been under house arrest since August for violating court orders. He was taken into custody early on Saturday after the bracelet triggered an alert shortly after midnight, prompting investigators to suspect tampering.

Judge Alexandre de Moraes said a planned night vigil by Bolsonaro supporters, organized by his son Flávio Bolsonaro, could have created chaos that enabled the former president to flee, possibly to a friendly embassy nearby. He ordered preventive detention, citing flight risk and threats to public order.

The arrest is separate from the more than 27-year sentence Bolsonaro received in September for an attempted coup following his 2022 election defeat. That verdict is not final, and enforcement had been expected as early as next week.

Bolsonaro’s lawyer offered no explanation for the damaged device and accused authorities of presenting a distored version of events.