Brazil’s Supreme Court on Monday ordered the house arrest for the country’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial for allegedly masterminding a coup plot to remain in office despite his defeat in the 2022 election.
The case has gripped the South American country as it faces a trade war with the US Trump administration.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversees the case against Bolsonaro before the top court, said in his decision that the 70-year-old former president had violated precautionary measures imposed on him by posting content on the social media channels of his three lawmaker sons.
Former president Jair Bolsonaro.Credit: AP
On Sunday, Bolsonaro addressed supporters in Rio de Janeiro through the phone of one of his sons, Flávio Bolsonaro.
The trial of the far-right leader is receiving renewed attention after US President Donald Trump directly tied a 50 per cent tariff on imported Brazilian goods to the judicial situation of Bolsonaro, a Trump ally.
Trump has called the proceedings against Bolsonaro a “witch hunt”, triggering nationalist reactions from leaders of all branches of power in Brazil, including President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Following news of the arrest order, a staffer with Brazil’s federal police told The Associated Press that federal agents were at Bolsonaro’s residence in the capital of Brasilia to seize cell phones, as ordered by de Moraes in his decision. The staffer spoke on condition of anonymity due to their lack of authorisation to speak about the matter publicly.
Brazil’s prosecutors accuse Bolsonaro of heading a criminal organisation that plotted to overturn the election, including plans to kill Lula and Justice de Moraes after the far-right leader narrowly lost his re-election bid in 2022.
Bolsonaro’s supporters storm Brazil’s Congress in Brasilia on January 8, 2023, a week after his successor Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, took office.Credit: AP
The move from the Brazilian judge comes one day after tens of thousands of Bolsonaro supporters took to the streets in the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, pleading for Brazil’s congress to pardon him and hundreds of others who are under trial for their roles in the destruction of government buildings in Brasília on January 8, 2023.
The latest decision from the top court keeps Bolsonaro under ankle monitoring, allows only family members and lawyers to visit him and seizes all mobile phones from his home.
AP
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