Jair Bolsonaro has been imprisoned on his home in Brasilia on Monday. The judge of the Supreme Court Alexandre de Moraes dictated the house arrest in a case for alleged, in January 2023. The judge already last July 18, after considering that there was a risk of escape. Now, Bolsonaro will not be able to get out of home.
In his decision two weeks ago, the court had allowed Bolsonaro to circulate freely, but demanded to spend the nights at home, not have contacts with foreign ambassadors and, above all, refrain from any publication on social networks. Moraes stressed that the former president did not comply with this last point.
“Jair Messias Bolsonaro developed material for social networks maintaining the illicit messages for which precautionary measures had been imposed,” the judge wrote in his ruling. “The undercover participation of Bolsonaro clearly demonstrated that he continued with the illegal conduct of trying to coerce the Supreme Federal Court and obstruct justice, in flagrant contempt for previously imposed precautionary measures,” he continued.
“The political supporters of Bolsonaro and their children deliberately used the speeches and the participation of the accused, even by telephone and social networks, to disseminate attacks and encourage protesters with the clear intention of pressing and coercing this Supreme Court,” says the Moraes ruling.
Bolsonaro can no longer receive visits, except for his lawyers or persons authorized by the Supreme Court. You also have the use of the mobile phone. The judge intends to prevent events such as last Sunday, when the former president spoke by videoconference with one of his children, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, during a demonstration in his support in Rio de Janeiro.
“Failure to comply with house arrest standards or any of the precautionary measures will result in its revocation and the immediate order of preventive detention,” Moraes warned Bolsonaro in his brief.
Bolsonaro is accused of leading a coup attempt to hold on to power, after losing the elections in 2022, and preventing Lula Da Silva from governing. The plan contemplated to kill Lula, his vice president, Geraldo Alckmin, and Judge Moraes. The assonada did not prosper, according to the accusation, by. The coup plot culminated, however, in the assault on the headquarters of the Executive Power, the Legislative and the Judicial.
The trial against the retired military has put Brazil in the sights of the United States. Donald Trump considers that his friend Bolsonaro is the victim of a higher political persecution applied in his commercial war. Judge Moraes, 56, has also been a central character of the conflict. The White House withdrew the visa days and applied the Magintsky Law, used to punish human rights violators.
The commercial war is giving great political revenues to Lula, who has successfully agreed the nationalist feeling of the greatest economy in Latin America. On Friday, after a long silence, Trump finally said he was willing to negotiate a reduction of tariffs. “You can call me whenever I want. Let’s see what happens, I love the people of Brazil,” he said in statements to journalists at the White House. “We have always been open to dialogue,” the Brazilian replied. That conversation has not yet occurred, but it is expected that Bolsonaro’s arrest will not be helpful.
