Brazil: Judge Alexandre de Moraes orders imprisonment of former President Collor de Mello

Judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered the imprisonment of former President Fernando Collor de Mello, the first after the restoration of democracy. The order will be submitted to a vote by the other Supreme Court justices this Friday.

The court will meet virtually to confirm or reject the decision.

The 75-year-old former president, who governed from 1990-1992, was sentenced in 2023 to eight years and 10 months in prison for corruption in an investigation stemming from the Lava Jato case. De Moraes rejected the defense's second appeal.

"Alexandre de Moraes, of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), rejected the defense's second appeal and determined the immediate detention of former president of the Republic and former Senator Fernando Collor de Mello," the court said Thursday in a statement.

Collor de Mello was found guilty of receiving 20 million reais between 2010 and 2014 ($3.5 million, at the current exchange rate) when he was a senator, to "irregularly facilitate contracts" between a construction company and a former subsidiary of Brazilian state oil company Petrobras.

His defense said the ruling caused "surprise and concern" and affirmed that Collor "will present himself to comply with the decision determined by magistrate Alexandre de Moraes," in a statement picked up by AFP.

Moraes argued that the appeals filed by Collor's defense against the 2023 sentence are "merely dilatory."