SAO PAULO, Dec 19 - Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Friday authorized former President Jair Bolsonaro to leave the Federal Police Superintendency in Brasilia, where he is serving a 27-year prison sentence, for a surgical procedure to treat a hernia.

Moraes' decision follows a request from Bolsonaro's defense lawyers last week, when they also asked the justice for the right-wing leader to serve out his sentence under "humanitarian house arrest."