SAO PAULO — Brazil’s Supreme Court docket on Monday ordered the home arrest of former President Jair Bolsonaro, on trial for allegedly masterminding a coup plot to stay in workplace regardless of his defeat within the 2022 election — a case that has gripped the South American nation because it faces a commerce battle with the Trump administration.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversees the case in opposition to Bolsonaro earlier than the highest court docket, mentioned in his resolution that the 70-year-old former president had violated precautionary measures imposed on him by posting content material on the social media channels of his three lawmaker sons.
The trial of the far-right chief is receiving renewed consideration after U.S. President Donald Trump instantly tied a 50% tariff on imported Brazilian items to his ally’s judicial scenario. Trump has referred to as the proceedings a “ witch hunt,” triggering nationalist reactions from leaders of all branches of energy in Brazil, together with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The case in opposition to Bolsonaro
Brazil’s prosecutors accuse Bolsonaro of heading a felony group that plotted to overturn the election, together with plans to kill Lula and Justice de Moraes after the far-right chief narrowly misplaced his reelection bid in 2022.
Monday’s order adopted one from the highest court docket final month that ordered Bolsonaro to put on an digital ankle monitor and imposed a curfew on his actions whereas the proceedings are underway.
Following information of the arrest order, a staffer with Brazil’s federal police instructed The Related Press that federal brokers had seized cell telephones at Bolsonaro’s residence within the capital of Brasilia, as ordered by de Moraes in his resolution. The staffer spoke on situation of anonymity because of their lack of authorization to talk about the matter publicly.
Bolsonaro is predicted to stay in Brasilia for his home arrest as he isn’t allowed to journey. He additionally has a home in Rio de Janeiro, the place he held his electoral base as a lawmaker for 3 a long time. The previous military captain is the fourth former president of Brazil to be arrested for the reason that finish of the nation’s navy rule from 1964 to 1985, which Bolsonaro supported.
‘Flagrant disrespect’
The transfer from the Brazilian justice comes a day after tens of hundreds of Bolsonaro supporters took the streets within the cities of Sao Paulo and Rio, pleading for Brazil’s congress to pardon him and a whole bunch of others who’re both beneath trial or jailed for his or her roles within the destruction of presidency buildings in Brasilia on Jan. 8, 2023.
On Sunday, Bolsonaro addressed supporters in Rio via the cellphone of certainly one of his sons, which de Moraes’ described as unlawful.
“The flagrant disrespect to the precautionary measures was so apparent that the defendant’s son, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, determined to take away the posting in his Instagram profile, with the target of hiding the authorized transgression,” de Moraes wrote.
Attorneys for the previous Brazilian president didn’t make feedback after the choice. Flávio Bolsonaro claimed on X that Brazil “is formally in a dictatorship” after his father’s home arrest.
“The persecution of de Moraes in opposition to Bolsonaro has no limits!” the senator wrote.
De Moraes added in his ruling that Jair Bolsonaro, who ruled Brazil between 2019 and 2022, has unfold messages with “a transparent content material of encouragement and instigation to assaults in opposition to the Supreme Court docket and a blatant assist for overseas intervention within the Brazilian Judiciary” — doubtless a veiled reference to Trump’s assist for Bolsonaro.
De Moraes additionally mentioned that Bolsonaro “addressed protesters gathered in Copacabana, in Rio” on Sunday so his supporters might “attempt to coerce the Supreme Court docket.”
Final week, the U.S. Treasury Division introduced sanctions on de Moraes over alleged suppression of freedom of expression and the continued trial of Bolsonaro.
Doable hassle forward
Creomar de Souza, a political analyst of Dharma Political Danger and Technique, a political consultancy agency primarily based in Brasilia, mentioned Bolsonaro’s home arrest opens a brand new second for the nation’s opposition, which might collect steam in preventing in opposition to Lula’s reelection bid subsequent yr.
Now, de Souza mentioned, “the 2026 election seems to be like turmoil” and the political debate in Brazil will doubtless be cut up between two key struggles.
“One is the trouble of Bolsonaro supporters to maintain sturdy on the proper, irrespective of whether it is pushing for amnesty in congress or placing themselves bodily on the market,” the analyst mentioned. “The second is how the Lula administration will attempt to present that the nation has a authorities.”
“That is simply the beginning,” he concluded.
The most recent resolution from the highest court docket retains Bolsonaro beneath ankle monitoring, permits solely members of the family and legal professionals to go to him and seizes all cell phones from his residence.
Lula was imprisoned for 580 days between 2018 and 2019 in a corruption conviction that was later tossed out by the Supreme Court docket, citing the bias of the decide within the case.
Michel Temer, who grew to become president after Dilma Rousseff was impeached in 2016, was arrested for 10 days in 2019 in reference to a graft investigation, which later ended and not using a conviction.
Earlier this yr, de Moraes ordered the detention of President Fernando Collor, who was in workplace from 1990 to 1992 till he was impeached. The 75-year-old former president was convicted for cash laundering and corruption in 2023 and is now serving his greater than eight-year sentence.
