Salutations, PauLO In a case that has engulfed the South American nation in a trade war with the Trump administration, Brazil’s Supreme Court on Monday ordered the house arrest of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial for allegedly orchestrating a coup plot to stay in power despite losing the 2022 election.
In his ruling, Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is in charge of Bolsonaro’s case before the highest court, claimed that the 70-year-old former president had disseminated content through his three sons who are lawmakers, in violation of the preventative measures that had been put in place for him.
Bolsonaro will appeal the ruling, according to a statement from his attorneys. “Good afternoon, Copacabana, good afternoon my Brazil, a hug to everyone, this is for our freedom” was broadcast from one of his boys’ cell phone during a protest in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday. They said that his statements could not “be regarded as ignoring precautionary measures or as a criminal act.”
After U.S. President Donald Trump publicly linked his ally’s legal predicament to a 50% tariff on imported Brazilian goods, the far-right leader’s trial is gaining new attention. When Trump referred to the proceedings as a “witch hunt,” Brazilian leaders of all departments of government, including President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva, reacted with nationalism.
On X, the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs stated that the Trump administration “condemns (de) Moraes’ order imposing house arrest on Bolsonaro and will hold accountable all those aiding and abetting sanctioned conduct.” This statement was made within hours after the decision.
“It is hardly a public service to further restrict Jair Bolsonaro’s capacity for self-defense in public. The U.S. State Department body asked Bolsonaro to speak.
Regarding the case, Brazil’s government has remained silent.
The case against Bolsonaro
After the far-right politician barely lost his 2022 reelection campaign, Bolsonaro is accused by Brazil’s prosecutors of leading a criminal group that planned to rig the election, including plans to assassinate Lula and Justice de Moraes.
The ruling on Monday came after the highest court’s judgment last month, which mandated that Bolsonaro wear an electronic ankle monitor and set a curfew for his actions over the course of the proceedings.
Following the arrest warrant, a Brazilian federal police worker told The Associated Press that de Moraes’ decision had prompted federal authorities to grab cell phones from Bolsonaro’s home in the capital city of Brasilia. The employee was not authorized to discuss the issue in public, so they talked on condition of anonymity.
Since Bolsonaro is prohibited from traveling, it is anticipated that he will stay in Brasilia under house arrest. In Rio de Janeiro, where he served as a senator for thirty years, he also has a home. Since the end of Brazil’s military government, which Bolsonaro backed, from 1964 to 1985, the former army captain has become the fourth former president to be detained.
‘Flagrant disrespect’
The Brazilian justice system’s action comes a day after tens of thousands of Bolsonaro supporters gathered in the streets of Rio and São Paulo to demand that the Brazilian congress grant him and hundreds of others who are either incarcerated or on trial for their roles in the Jan. 8, 2023, destruction of government buildings in Brasilia a pardon.
Bolsonaro used one of his sons’ phones to speak to supporters in Rio on Sunday, which de Moraes said was against the law.
“The flagrant disrespect to the precautionary measures was so obvious that the defendant’s son, Sen. Fl vio Bolsonaro, decided to remove the posting in his Instagram profile, with the objective of hiding the legal transgression,” stated de Moraes.
Following his father’s home detention, Flvio Bolsonaro declared on X that Brazil “is officially in a dictatorship”. The senator wrote, “The persecution of de Moraes against Bolsonaro has no limits!”
Jair Bolsonaro, who led Brazil from 2019 to 2022, has disseminated messages with “a clear content of encouragement and instigation to attacks against the Supreme Court and a blatant support for foreign intervention in the Brazilian Judiciary,” according to De Moraes’ ruling. This is probably a subtle allusion to Trump’s backing of Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro “addressed protesters gathered in Copacabana, in Rio” on Sunday, according to De Moraes, so that his followers might “try to coerce the Supreme Court.”
The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on de Moraes last week for allegedly stifling free speech in relation to Bolsonaro’s trial. The Brazilian judge was referred to as “a U.S.-sanctioned human rights abuser” by the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs on Monday, and he was charged with exploiting “institutions to silence opposition and threaten democracy.”
“(Brazil’s) judiciary will not allow a defendant to make a fool out of it,” stated De Moraes in his ruling.
“Everyone is entitled to justice. “A defendant must face legal repercussions if they willfully disregard preventative measures for the second time,” he stated.
Possible trouble ahead
According to political analyst Creomar de Souza of Dharma Political Risk and Strategy, a Brasilia-based political consulting organization, Bolsonaro’s house imprisonment gives the opposition in the nation a fresh opportunity to create momentum in their opposition to Lula’s reelection campaign the next year.
According to de Souza, “the 2026 election looks like turmoil” and two major conflicts will probably divide Brazilian political discourse.
“One is the effort of Bolsonaro supporters to keep strong on the right, no matter if it is pushing for amnesty in congress or putting themselves physically out there,” the expert stated. “The second is how the Lula administration will try to show that the country has a government.”
After concluding, “This is just the start,”
The highest court’s most recent ruling maintains Bolsonaro on ankle monitoring, restricts visits to him to family members and attorneys, and confiscates all of his cell phones from his house.
In a corruption conviction that was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court due to the judge’s bias, Lula spent 580 days in prison between 2018 and 2019.
After Dilma Rousseff was impeached in 2016, Michel Temer took over as president. In 2019, he was detained for 10 days in relation to a fraud investigation that ended without a conviction.
The detention of President Fernando Collor, who served from 1990 to 1992 until his impeachment, was ordered by de Moraes earlier this year. The 75-year-old former president is currently serving a sentence of more than eight years after being found guilty of money laundering and corruption in 2023.
Right-wing politicians chastised de Moraes’ action and likened Bolsonaro’s circumstances to those of his predecessors within hours of the directive.
“Jair Bolsonaro was placed under house arrest by de Moraes. “Corruption is the reason,” inquired congressman Nikolas Ferreira. “No. His children shared his work on social media. Horrible.
Due to a conviction for abuse of authority by the nation’s highest electoral court, the far-right leader is already disqualified from the election next year.
Bolsonaro’s house arrest, according to left-leaning congressman Duda Salabert, strengthens Brazil’s democracy.
According to Salabert, “and those who attacked it are about to pay,”
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