Police detain Brazil's ex-president. For hallucinations, he damaged the monitoring bracelet

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Sunday he was suffering from drug-induced "paranoia" that led him to damage an electronic monitoring bracelet. This follows a court document seen by Reuters. Just on Saturday, meanwhile, the politician was taken into custody by federal police for a possible escape from house arrest.

On Saturday, Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered the former right-wing leader detained ahead of a planned commemoration outside his home, which the judge said could jeopardise police surveillance of his house arrest.

He also highlighted a police report that Bolsonaro's ankle monitoring device had been breached.

At a detention hearing after his arrest, Bolsonaro denied any intention to escape from house arrest or attempt to remove the device. According to the document in question, he explained that he was hallucinating that there was a wire inside the bracelet.

The judge overseeing the hearing decided to maintain custody. The former president was sentenced in September to 27 years in prison for planning a coup after losing the 2022 elections. He has not yet exhausted all avenues of appeal.

He has been under house arrest for more than 100 days for violating precautionary measures in another case in which he allegedly sought US intervention to stop criminal proceedings against him.

(reuters, max)