Bolsonaro diagnosed with skin cancer

(AFP) Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, convicted last week of an attempted coup, was diagnosed with skin cancer, his doctor announced Wednesday.

Bolsonaro, 70, has a "squamous cell carcinoma, which is neither the most benign nor the most aggressive, it is intermediate, but it is still a type of skin cancer that can have more serious consequences," Dr. Claudio Birolini told reporters.

Shortly before, the former president had left the hospital where he had been admitted since Tuesday in Brasilia after feeling unwell during his preventive house arrest, a AFP photographer noted.

Bolsonaro's health

In a bulletin, the DF Star hospital said Bolsonaro arrived at the center "dehydrated, with elevation of heart rate and drop in blood pressure."

"Tests evidenced persistent anemia and impaired renal function."

After being treated with hydration and intravenous drug treatment, the symptoms improved and the former president was discharged, the hospital said later. He will continue under medical supervision, the medical statement added.

The diagnosis of cancer however had to do with some tests he underwent last Sunday. "Of the seven lesions tested, two were positive for carcinoma," Birolini said. The lesions were removed.

Bolsonaro has shown in recent months frequent ailments, especially chronic hypos and vomiting. Some of these health problems are derived from the knife attack in the abdomen he suffered during the 2018 election campaign.

The trial and sentencing

Bolsonaro was sentenced last week to more than 27 years in prison for attempting a coup against President Lula, according to the court hearing the case, sympathetic to Brazil's leftist government.

The supreme court found him responsible for "leading a criminal organization to cling to power" in 2022, after the election against Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Bolsonaro was not present at the last sessions of the trial due to health problems, according to his lawyers.