BRASILIA, May 4, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro could be released from the hospital within the "next few days," his doctors said Saturday, as he winds down his recovery from complex abdominal surgery.

The 70-year-old far-right leader "remains stable" from undergoing surgery on April 13 after experiencing severe abdominal pain a couple days earlier, the DF Star clinic in Brasilia said in a statement.

He is currently receiving physical therapy "and is expected to be discharged from the hospital in the next few days," the statement added.

Bolsonaro, who hopes to run for president again despite facing charges for an alleged coup plot, underwent a 12-hour operation to treat an intestinal obstruction, a complication from a stab wound he suffered in 2018 during a campaign event weeks before he won the presidential election.

The former president spent 17 days in intensive care before being transferred Wednesday to the inpatient ward, where he is reported to be "without pain or fever and with controlled blood pressure," the hospital statement said.

While still in intensive care, Bolsonaro received a notice from Brazil's Supreme Court to present his case in an alleged coup attempt at the end of his term in office, which lasted from 2019-2022.

Bolsonaro is accused of leading a plot to prevent the inauguration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva after being defeated by the leftist leader in the 2022 election.

Bolsonaro has pleaded not guilty, but could face up to 40 years in prison if convicted.

The trial will be the first of an ex-leader accused of attempting to take power by force since Brazil's return to democracy in 1985 following two decades of military dictatorship.

Bolsonaro is disqualified from running for office until 2030 due to questioning the reliability of Brazil's voting system without evidence, but he insists he plans to run in the 2026 presidential elections, in which Lula can also run.