Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro is due to be discharged from hospital into house arrest on Friday, two weeks after he was rushed to intensive care with bronchopneumonia, his doctor said.
Bolsonaro fell ill in prison where he is serving a 27-year sentence for attempting a botched coup after his 2022 election loss to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
After more than a week in the ICU, the 71-year-old was moved to a regular in-patient room on Monday and is considered “clinically stable,” his cardiologist Brasil Caiado told reporters on Wednesday.
“We are planning for discharge on Friday,” he said, adding that a chest X-ray had shown significant improvement, with only a residual lesion in the left lung.
Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes on Tuesday granted a request by Bolsonaro’s lawyers to allow him to temporarily serve his sentence at home for a period of 90 days once he is discharged.
After this period the court will re-evaluate whether to extend the house arrest or if the former far-right leader should go back to jail.
Moraes had denied several previous requests for Bolsonaro to move to house arrest on humanitarian grounds.
READ ALSO: Brazil Court Grants House Arrest For Jailed Bolsonaro
Bolsonaro had been under house arrest before the official start of his sentence; however, he was moved to prison after he took a soldering iron to his ankle monitoring bracelet in what the court saw as an escape attempt.
In his ruling, Moraes said Bolsonaro would be required to wear an electronic monitor and would not be allowed to use a phone or social media to communicate.
He can receive visits from his family, lawyers and doctors.
The clinic said Bolsonaro’s lung infection was the latest illness linked to his 2018 stabbing in the abdomen while campaigning to become president.
The attack has led to numerous operations and other health problems, including persistent hiccups and vomiting.
“Those of us who are deeply familiar with the conditions he has, understand that the home environment is, from a human standpoint, healthier,” said the cardiologist Caiado.
The doctor said that recovery from bronchopneumonia, which includes the risk of scar tissue forming in the lungs during healing, could take between six weeks and six months.
Bolsonaro chose his eldest son Flavio, a 44-year-old senator, as flagbearer for his powerful conservative base in presidential elections in October.
Some opinion polls show a dead heat in a potential run-off election between Flavio Bolsonaro and Lula, 80, who is seeking a fourth term.
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