Brazil Supreme Court Subpoenas Jair Bolsonaro While He Recovers in ICU

Brazil’s top court, the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF), subpoenaed conservative former President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday while he is still recovering from an emergency surgery at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the DF Star Hospital in Brasília in relation to charges of allegedly staging a coup.

Bolsonaro remains hospitalized at the ICU at press time after he underwent a complex 12-hour emergency surgery in mid-April to treat an intestinal subocclusion, a condition stemming from past surgeries he endured following a failed assassination attempt in September 2018.

A man identified as Bispo de Oliveira stabbed him during a campaign rally event. De Oliveira, once a registered member of the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL), told police that he believed “God” tasked him with killing Bolsonaro.

The former president stands accused of allegedly conspiring with several others to poison current radical leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and stage a “coup” to overturn the results of the 2022 presidential election, which he narrowly lost against Lula. The STF grouped all 34 of the accused into several blocks, with Bolsonaro and seven other individuals being referred to as the “Core 1” of the purported coup plot.

Bolsonaro spoke with CNN Brasil on Wednesday evening and explained that an STF official entered the hospital’s ICU to subpoena him, notifying that he has five days to present his response to the accusations. According to Bolsonaro, the official remained in the ICU for over ten minutes before leaving.

Bolsonaro shared a video of the encounter on social media. Throughout the conversation, Bolsonaro criticized STF Minister Alexandre de Moraes, who is the rapporteur of the purported “coup” plot case and the Justice that signed off the subpoena proceedings.

“He [de Moraes] thinks that if he arrests me or removes me from public life, it’s over. It’s all over for Brazil here. And it’s not like that,” Bolsonaro reportedly told the STF official. “I have five days to present my preliminary defense. [My lawyer] will defend me. Are you aware that you’re in an ICU room in a hospital?”

“You’re just carrying out an order here, but Hitler’s court staff also carried out their mission: they put Jews in the gas chamber,” he said in another part of the conversation. “Everyone paid their price one day. It won’t be any different in Brazil.”

Bolsonaro also spoke with the outlet Metrópoles and explained, via text messaging, “I signed after 15 minutes. The bailiff put her foot in the door of the ICU and came in to get me to sign. The officer confessed that she was following orders. Guess whose?”

The STF explained in a brief note shared with several Brazilian outlets that it decided to subpoena Bolsonaro — the only remaining “Core 1” individual left to subpoena — after the former president “demonstrated the possibility of summoning him to present a defense” due to his participation in a live stream with his sons on Tuesday April 22.

“The summons to the defendants (Core 1) informing them of the start of the criminal action and the summons to present their defense were issued on April 11. All the defendants had already been summoned between April 11 and 15,” STF’s note reportedly read.

“Due to former President Jair Bolsonaro’s hospitalization, it was decided to wait for a suitable date when he could normally receive the bailiff. The release of a live broadcast made by the former President yesterday (April 22) showed that it was possible for him to be summoned today (April 23),” the note concluded.

Bolsonaro’s medical team, led by Dr. Cláudio Birolini, published a medical update on Thursday morning informing that the former president presented “clinical worsening, elevated blood pressure and worsening liver laboratory tests,” and will undergo new imaging tests throughout the day.

“He [Bolsonaro] is still fasting orally and on exclusive parenteral nutrition. He continues with motor physiotherapy and measures to prevent venous thrombosis,” the report read. “He continues to be advised not to receive visitors and is not expected to be discharged from the ICU.”

Bolsonaro’s legal team condemned STF’s Wednesday actions in a note shared with local outlets, deeming it “unprecedented” and denouncing the measure as violating domestic law which prohibits institutions from summoning individuals who are in serious medical conditions.

“I say ‘unprecedented’ because the Code of Criminal Procedure is explicit in determining that it is impossible to summon a patient in serious condition, a condition which, it is well known, unfortunately affects the President today,” the note read. “The prohibition on summonses in these particular conditions is rooted in the principle of the dignity of the human person — a fundamental clause of the Federal Constitution — and has been repeatedly called for by the Supreme Court in various decisions.”

“In addition to the violation of the legal impediment, which violates this constitutional principle, one has to wonder what the real need and concrete urgency is to take such an invasive measure,” the note continued, “given that President Bolsonaro has never shied away from any call during the investigation, and there is also a prognosis that he will be discharged from hospital in a few days?”

Bolsonaro faces charges of armed conspiracy, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, coup d’état, damage qualified by violence, serious threats against the Brazilian Union’s assets, and deterioration of listed heritage. If found guilty, the 70-year-old former President could face up to 39 years in prison.

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.