By Bongiwe Dlamini

MBABANE:The Brazilian Supreme Court has approved a request from former President Jair Bolsonaro to temporarily leave prison for a medical procedure later this week, Aljazeera reported.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes said on Tuesday that Bolsonaro who is serving a twenty-seven (27) year prison sentence for participation in a coup plot, can undergo hernia surgery on Thursday.

“Bolsonaro’s lawyers had requested that he be transferred to Hospital DF Star in the capital, Brasilia, for medical tests on Wednesday and surgery the next day. Doctors said a hernia was causing him pain in both sides of his groin. The ex-President has undergone a series of hospitalisations and medical procedures since being stabbed in the abdomen during a campaign event in 2018. His hospital visit will be the first time he has departed from federal custody since beginning his sentence towards the end of November. The court ordered the police to continue monitoring Bolsonaro “24 hours a day,” reads the Aljazeera report in part.