Politician reportedly taken from his villa into custody at a federal police base about 7 miles from presidential palace
Brazil’s former far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has been arrested at his villa in the capital, Brasília.
In a brief statement, federal police confirmed officers had executed a preventive arrest warrant at the request of the supreme court. Brazilian media reports said the politician had been taken to a federal police base, seven miles from the presidential palace Bolsonaro occupied from 2019 until 2022, when he lost the election and tried to launch a military coup.
It was not immediately clear why the court had ordered the preventive arrest of the 70-year-old former president, although local reports said it had been done to “maintain public order”.
One of the former president’s lawyers, Celso Vilardi, confirmed to AFP on Saturday: “He has been imprisoned, but I don’t know why.”
