FILE – Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro, who has been temporarily allowed out of house arrest for medical treatment, leaves a hospital in Brasilia, Brazil, September 14, 2025.
Eraldo Perez/AP
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Eraldo Perez/AP
RIO DE JANEIRO – Former Brazilian 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.
One of his doctors, Brasil Cayado, told journalists that the 70-year-old’s medical condition was serious.
“Pneumonia is always serious in patients over 70 years of age because it can progress to septicemia, as bacteria can often enter the bloodstream and cause a more severe condition,” Keyado said.
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. Flavio Bolsonaro has said he will run for president this year, and recent polls show him and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva nearly tied.
Jair Bolsonaro 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.
Caiado, a cardiologist, said it was unlikely that Bolsonaro would return to prison in the next few days because the treatment would have to be done intravenously and in a hospital setting.
The confused former leader was transferred to a large cell in January, but his relatives have repeatedly asked the Supreme Court to allow Bolsonaro to serve his sentence under house arrest. They alleged that they were not being treated properly and were being given inadequate medical treatment.
On Friday, Carlos Bolsonaro – one of the former president’s sons – said at X that “the system is literally and compulsively (trying) to kill his father”.
The court rejected those claims and refused to serve Bolsonaro’s sentence at home.
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 Supreme Court Justice Alexandre 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.
Their inquiry gained new international attention after US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Brazil, citing legal proceedings against their ally, which Trump called a “witch hunt”. Since then many taxes have been abolished.
