This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A man who stabbed the then Brazilian presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro in the torso last year has been absolved after a judge ruled he was mentally ill.

Adélio Bispo de Oliveira has been in police custody since 6 September 2018 when he was accused of stabbing Bolsonaro while he was campaigning in the streets of Juiz de Fora, a city 115 miles (186km) north of Rio de Janeiro. The blade pierced the candidate’s intestine and put his life in danger. The attacker was beaten badly by Bolsonaro supporters after the stabbing.

Police said Bispo had confessed to the attack and Bolsonaro went on to win the presidential election.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jair Bolsonaro says he will appeal against the decision. Photograph: Victor Caivano/AP

On Friday, the judge Bruno Savino ruled that Bispo’s preventive detention should be converted into an indefinite internment in a mental facility within the federal prison system.

“The hospitalisation will last for an indefinite period until medical experts have proven that he is no longer dangerous,” Savino said, in a statement from the federal justice system in Minas Gerais state.

The judge had already declared the attacker could not be jailed because he was mentally ill on 27 May, so the ruling had been expected.

Bolsonaro said he would appeal against the decision.