Brazil judge rules Bolsonaro stabber mentally ill
May 28, 2019
A man charged with stabbing President Jair Bolsonaro at a campaign event last year is mentally ill and should not be punished with a prison sentence, a judge ruled on Monday.
Adelio Bispo de Oliveira severely injured the far-right presidential candidate at a September rally in Juiz de For, in Minas Gerais state.
Read more: Brazil loses credibility under Jair Bolsonaro
Federal judge Bruno Savino ruled that based on psychiatric evaluations and expert opinions de Oliveira suffers from persistent delusional disorder and should be sent to a mental institution.
Bolsonaro suffered serious injuries to the abdomen that forced him to undergo surgery three times, the last this year to remove the colostomy bag that he used until the reconstruction of his intestinal tract was completed.
At the time of the attack, the former army captain was already leading in the polls on an anti-crime and anti-corruption agenda.
The injury forced him to spend the final stretch of the campaign in the hospital and miss debates. He was released from hospital only a week before the October 7 election.
Some analysts have suggested that the attention due to the stabbing and Bolsonaro's absence from debates boosted his popularity rather than hurting his campaign.
cw/msh (AP, EFE)
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