Brazil's Former President Bolsonaro's Kidney Function Worsens Amid Pneumonia Battle, Says Medical Team

Sao Paulo: Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro 's kidney function worsened at the intensive care unit to which he was transferred hours earlier, a hospital in the capital, Brasilia, said Saturday. The 70-year-old leader also has pneumonia and doctors say his medical situation is serious but stable.

Bolsonaro was sent to DF Star Hospital on Friday from the prison where he is serving a 27-year sentence for leading a coup attempt in 2023. The hospital also said in a statement that he has had an increase in inflammatory markers since treatment began.

The former president, who governed between 2019-22, was admitted to the hospital after experiencing high fever, low oxygen, sweating and chills. Exams confirmed bronchopneumonia, a type of pneumonia, likely caused by aspiration.

The embattled ex-leader was transferred from the local federal police headquarters to a larger cell in January, but his relatives have repeatedly asked Brazil's Supreme Court to allow him to carry out his sentence under house arrest. They claim he has received insufficient medical attention.

Bolsonaro has been hospitalized multiple times since being stabbed at a campaign event before the 2018 presidential election. One of his sons, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, is expected to run for president later this year against incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

“Unfortunately, we have to learn how to live with this. It is not the first, the second or the third time my father is hospitalized because of the problems coming from the stabbing,” Flávio Bolsonaro told journalists in Brasilia. “He is stable, he did not improve, but he is stable.”

Jair Bolsonaro was also convicted on charges that include leading an armed criminal organization and attempting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law. He has denied any wrongdoing.