Jair Bolsonaro's defense asked STF Justice Alexandre de Moraes for permission for the former president to undergo surgeries due to worsening health while serving his sentence at the PF in Brasília. The lawyers also request humanitarian house arrest, citing the severity of his medical condition. The petition was filed on December 9, 2025.
Jair Bolsonaro's (PL) lawyers filed a petition with the Supreme Federal Court (STF) on the evening of December 9, 2025, requesting that the former president temporarily leave the Federal Police (PF) Superintendency in Brasília to undergo surgical procedures at DF Star Hospital.
According to the defense, the surgeries are needed to treat the hiccups condition, a sequela of previous interventions, and the worsening of the unilateral inguinal hernia diagnosis. Bolsonaro has complained of pain and discomfort in the inguinal region, exacerbated by hiccup crises that increase abdominal pressure. Medical reports indicate the need for immediate hospitalization, estimated at five to seven days, or whatever time is necessary for adequate recovery.
The defense describes the condition as one of 'exceptional gravity,' with a serious, chronic, progressive, and multiple disease, fitting the hypotheses of article 318, subsection II, of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CPP) and STF jurisprudence for granting humanitarian house arrest. They reiterate that the former president's mental confusion contributed to the attempt to tamper with the electronic ankle monitor, detected on November 22, 2025, when Bolsonaro used a hot iron to try to open it.
Bolsonaro has been imprisoned at the PF since November 22, initially in preventive detention due to the ankle monitor incident and a vigil. Three days later, on November 25, Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the start of serving the 27 years and three months prison sentence for the coup plot, in closed regime. This is the latest in previous surgeries, such as the removal of skin lesions in September 2025 and one in the intestine in April of the same year, both performed by doctor Claudio Birolini.
"As informed by the doctor responsible for the Petitioner's treatment, the former President needs to undergo surgery both for the treatment of the hiccups condition [...] and due to the worsening of the unilateral inguinal hernia diagnosis," the lawyers state in the document.
