Jailed former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro undergoes double hernia surgery

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro underwent double hernia surgery on Thursday, his family reported.

In an Instagram post, Bolsonaro’s wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, said the surgery was a success. The procedure in Brasilia, the country’s capital, lasted approximately three and a half hours and was completed without complications, according to the family.

Bolsonaro, hospitalized since Wednesday, is serving a sentence 27-year prison sentence since November due to an attempted coup d’état.

He was granted court permission to leave prison after federal police doctors confirmed he needed the procedure.

“It is a complex surgery,” Dr. Claudio Birolini said Wednesday, according to Agence France-Presse. “But it is a standardized…scheduled surgery, so we hope the procedure will be carried out without major complications.”

Doctors say Bolsonaro’s double hernia causes him pain. The former leader, who was in power between 2019 and 2022, has He underwent several other surgeries. since he was stabbed in the abdomen during a campaign rally in 2018.

Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who oversaw Bolsonaro’s coup trial and sentenced him to prison, authorized the procedure but denied the former president’s request for house arrest after his release from the hospital.

Bolsonaro has no contact with the few other inmates at the federal police headquarters in Brasilia, where he is being held and where his room of about 130 square feet has a bed, a private bathroom, air conditioning, a television and a desk, according to authorities.

He has free access to his doctors and lawyers, but other visitors must receive approval from the Supreme Court. On Wednesday, de Moraes authorized Bolsonaro’s children to visit him while he is hospitalized.

After Thursday’s operation, doctors will evaluate whether Bolsonaro can undergo an additional procedure: blocking the phrenic nerve, which controls the diaphragm, for recurrent hiccups, Birolini said.

Early Thursday, his eldest son, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, told reporters before surgery that his father had written a letter confirming that he had named him his political party’s presidential candidate in next year’s elections. Flávio Bolsonaro announced on December 5 that he will challenge President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term, as the candidate of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party.

The senator read the letter to reporters and his office provided a reproduction to the media.

“He represents the continuation of the path of prosperity that I began long before I became president, as I believe that we must restore the responsibility of leading Brazil with justice, determination and loyalty to the aspirations of the Brazilian people,” Bolsonaro said in the handwritten letter, dated December 25.

The former president and several of his allies were convicted by a panel of Supreme Court judges for attempting to overthrow Brazil’s democratic system following his 2022 election defeat.

The plot included plans to kill Lula, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and De Moraes. There was also a plan to foment an insurrection in early 2023.

Bolsonaro was also convicted on charges including leading an armed criminal organization and attempting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law. He has denied any wrongdoing.