The defense of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) asked the minister, of the (Supreme Federal Court), to disregard the occurrence of a “serious offense” due to possession of a weapon and requested that the former president’s house arrest be maintained.
In a petition filed this Saturday (27), lawyers argue that the weapon was regularly registered, had remained stored at Bolsonaro’s residence since before the conviction and was temporarily removed by the former president’s security guard for repair after presenting a mechanical failure. The lawyers maintain that there was never a court order to seize the weapons nor any communication about possible revocation of the registration.
Last Thursday (25), the Attorney General of the Republic, argued that the weapon does not indicate disciplinary misconduct on the part of the former president, arguing that it was necessary to wait for the end of the investigations to reach a conclusion on the maintenance of Bolsonaro’s residence. It will now be up to the minister to decide whether or not to extend the ex-president’s stay at his home, or whether he will return to the prison unit known as Papudinha, in Brasília.
When he asked for a statement from the PGR, Moraes said that the seizure of the weapons could demonstrate a “serious offense” and lead to “the cessation of house arrest” of the former president, who is serving a sentence after being convicted by the STF for an attempted coup d’état.
The 9 mm Glock pistol, which belongs to the former president, was taken to military personnel Estácio Leite da Silva Filho, Bolsonaro’s security guard and a member of the GSI (Institutional Security Office), on June 15, after being approached during a blitz in the Federal District. He was about 33 kilometers from the house where the former president is under house arrest.
“There was no concealment of the weapon, tampering with registration, use of methods designed to frustrate state supervision or any conduct aimed at preventing the identification of its origin or ownership. On the contrary, ownership of the weapon was immediately recognized and never constituted an unknown or clandestine circumstance”, the defense wrote in the document.
Speaking to the Federal District on Tuesday (23), Bolsonaro admitted ownership of the weapon and stated that, upon detecting a flaw in the pistol, he asked the security guard to arrange for it to be repaired. The DF Civil Police also investigates the case through an investigation.
Finally, the defense stated in the document that there was no intent or guilt on the part of the former president to fail to comply with court orders and asked Moraes to withdraw the recognition of serious misconduct and extend the humanitarian house arrest.
