Brazil's Attorney General Paulo Gonet issued a favorable opinion to the Supreme Federal Court (STF) on April 24, 2026, backing former President Jair Bolsonaro's request to temporarily leave house arrest for rotator cuff surgery on his right shoulder. The opinion responds to a request from case rapporteur Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
Paulo Gonet, the Procuradoria-Geral da República (PGR), submitted the opinion to the STF, stating: “The PGR does not oppose the requests made by Jair Messias Bolsonaro, without prejudice to the adoption of necessary precautionary measures.”
This development follows a series of health-related petitions amid Bolsonaro's 27-year-and-3-month prison sentence for his role in the coup plot, handed down in late 2025. Initially imprisoned at the Federal Police superintendency in Brasília from November 2025, then transferred to the Papuda Penitentiary Complex, Bolsonaro was moved to house arrest on March 24, 2026, after treatment for bacterial pneumonia at Hospital DF Star.
Previous requests included December 2025 petitions for surgeries addressing hiccups and an inguinal hernia, alongside a bid for humanitarian house arrest.
