Brasilia.- The Supreme Court of Justice of Brazil ordered this Monday the house arrest of former president Jair Bolsonaro for failing to comply with some of the precautionary restrictions that had been imposed on him due to the risk of a flight, within the framework of his trial for coupism.
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In his ruling, De Moraes also ordered the Federal Police to conduct a search of the former head of state’s residence to seize mobile phones and other devices that allow him to connect to social networks. The Federal Police confirmed in a statement that it complied on the afternoon of this Monday with the court order for house arrest and the seizure of cell phones. The magistrate alleged in his decision that Bolsonaro violated the precautionary measures imposed on him last month, which prohibited him from sending messages through his own social media accounts or those of third parties and which obliged him to use an electronic ankle bracelet and to remain at his residence at night and on weekends. De Moraes cited messages from Bolsonaro that were broadcast on Sunday on the social media of his allies, including those of his three parliamentary sons, with “incentives and instigations to attacks on the Supreme Court and support for foreign intervention in the Brazilian Judiciary.” The messages were read at the marches held on Sunday by thousands of Bolsonaristas in several cities across the country, in which they defended the approval of an amnesty for all those accused of coupism and expressed support for the sanctions imposed by US President Donald Trump on those responsible for the trial of Bolsonaro. In addition to imposing an additional 50% tariff on the import of some Brazilian products, whose elimination was conditional on the cessation of proceedings against Bolsonaro, the Trump administration revoked the visas of eight of the eleven members of the Brazilian Supreme Court and determined the blocking of the assets of Alexandre de Moraes. “There is no doubt that there was a breach of the precautionary measure imposed on Jair Messias Bolsonaro,” the magistrate assured, for whom “it is necessary to adopt more drastic measures to avoid the continued criminal repetition by the defendant.” House arrest was ordered as part of the process in which Bolsonaro is accused of leading a plot to prevent the inauguration as president of the progressive Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who defeated him in the 2022 presidential elections. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, in addition to discussing with his ministers and high-ranking military officials measures to annul the elections and even to assassinate Lula, Bolsonaro encouraged the assault on the headquarters of the Presidency, Congress, and the Supreme Court promoted by thousands of bolsonaristas on January 8, 2023.
