Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro has been permitted to leave prison to undergo surgery on Christmas Day following approval from Brazil’s Supreme Court, court documents show.<\/p>\n
Bolsonaro is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence<\/a> for plotting a coup after he lost the last election in 2022.<\/p>\n Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Tuesday granted permission for Bolsonaro to temporarily leave prison and be transferred to a hospital on Wednesday for a hernia operation on 25 December.<\/p>\n Bolsonaro, 70, has faced ongoing health complications<\/a> since being stabbed in the abdomen during a 2018 presidential campaign.<\/p>\n In April, the right-wing former president underwent intestinal surgery<\/a>. By November, Justice Moraes, who also oversaw his trial, mandated that Bolsonaro be given full-time medical care. <\/p>\n Fl\u00e1vio Bolsonaro, the former president’s son, posted a video to X<\/a> on Wednesday with the caption: “Keep praying for the president.”<\/p>\n Bolsonaro was found guilty in September for plotting a coup d’etat after he lost the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva.<\/p>\n The former leader is serving his sentence in a federal police jail in Brasilia, the capital, after being deemed a flight risk and removed from home detention.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, tens of thousands of people in Brazil’s main cities gathered to protest against a bill<\/a> trying to significantly reduce the time Bolsonaro spends in jail.<\/p>\n Lawmakers passed the bill last week after it was approved by the lower house. Legal experts have estimated it could reduce Bolsonaro’s sentence to less than three years. <\/p>\n In response, Brazil’s president Lula promised to veto the bill<\/a>.<\/p>\n “With all due respect to the Congress, when it reaches my desk, I will veto it,” Lula told journalists last week, while acknowledging his veto could be overridden by the largely conservative Congress.<\/p>\n