Brazil's Bolsonaro awaits court approval to go to hospital after fall


  • World
  • Wednesday, 07 Jan 2026

FILE PHOTO: Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro looks on from his home as Sao Paulo’s Governor Tarcisio de Freitas (not pictured) leaves after a visit in Brasilia, Brazil September 29, 2025. REUTERS/Diego Herculano/File Photo

SAO PAULO, Jan 6 (Reuters) - ‌Brazil's imprisoned former President Jair Bolsonaro was awaiting ‌Supreme Court authorization on Tuesday to go to ‌a Brasilia hospital for tests after falling and hitting his head, his wife said on social media.

"We are waiting for (Supreme Court) Justice Alexandre ‍de Moraes to authorize it," Michelle ‍Bolsonaro wrote on Instagram, ‌after saying earlier in the day that he would be ‍hospitalized.

"We ​are going to the hospital. My love will undergo exams," she wrote in the earlier ⁠post, adding that the 70-year-old right-wing leader fell ‌while sleeping and hit his head on a piece of furniture.

Brazil's ⁠federal police ‍said in a statement that Bolsonaro received initial medical treatment on Tuesday morning, adding that a federal police doctor "found minor injuries" ‍and saw no need for hospitalization.

"Any ‌referral to a hospital depends on authorization from the Supreme Court," it added.

Bolsonaro underwent a series of medical procedures in December to treat a hernia and hiccups.

He was discharged from hospital on January 1 and taken back to the Federal Police Superintendency in Brasilia, where he is serving ‌a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup after losing the 2022 presidential election.

The former president was stabbed in the abdomen during ​a 2018 campaign event and has a history of hospitalizations and surgeries related to the attack.

(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo and Isabel Teles)

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