Rio de Janeiro — Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro is suffering from pneumonia and is being treated in an intensive care unit, a hospital in the capital Brasilia said on Friday.
Earlier in the day, Bolsonaro’s eldest son, Flavio X, said his father was being transferred from prison to hospital after waking up with a cold and vomiting.
“I’m asking for prayers that it’s nothing serious,” Flavio wrote. He has said he will run for president this year, and recent polls show him and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva almost tied.
Jair Bolsonaro, 70, is serving a 27-year sentence for attempted coup after being convicted by a panel of Supreme Court justices last year.
He was admitted to the hospital after experiencing high fever, low oxygen, sweating and chills, DF Star Hospital said in a release. Tests confirmed bronchopneumonia, a type of pneumonia, probably caused by aspiration.
“He is currently hospitalized in the intensive care unit, receiving IV antibiotics and non-invasive clinical support,” the hospital said.
Bolsonaro has been hospitalized multiple times since being stabbed at a campaign event before the 2018 presidential election.
In January, police took him to the same hospital for a brain scan after he fell out of bed.
Bolsonaro and several of his allies were convicted in September of trying to overthrow Brazil’s democratic system after their 2022 election defeat. The plot included plans to kill Lula, Vice President Geraldo Alcmin and de Moraes. There was also a plan to promote a coup in early 2023.
Bolsonaro was convicted on charges including leading an armed criminal organization and attempting to violently overthrow the rule of law in a democracy. He has denied any wrongdoing.
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