Brazil’s former President Fernando Collor de Mello has been arrested following a Supreme Court order for him to begin serving a corruption sentence. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes issued the arrest order after rejecting Collor’s legal challenges to a previous conviction.
Collor, 75, was taken into custody by federal police early Friday in the northeastern city of Maceio, the capital of Alagoas state. According to his lawyer, Marcelo Bessa, the former leader had been en route to Brasilia to surrender voluntarily when the arrest occurred.
The 75-year-old politician was being held by federal police in the northeastern city of Maceio, the capital of Alagoas state, Bessa said in a statement.
Moraes’ order on Thursday came after the top court sentenced Collor, the first president to win the popular vote after the end of Brazil’s last military dictatorship in 1985, to eight years and 10 months in prison in 2023 on corruption and money-laundering charges.
Collor’s lawyer had already voiced “surprise and concern” at Moraes’ decision in an initial statement released late on Thursday, but added that the former president would comply with the order.
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