SAEDNEWS: Brazil’s Supreme Court issued a house arrest order for former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is standing trial for allegedly plotting a coup.
The decision, issued on Monday, comes a day after protests in support of the former far-right president were held across Brazil, Al Jazeera reported.
Bolsonaro is accused of seeking to overturn the 2022 election, won by his left-wing opponent and current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
A media representative for Bolsonaro confirmed that police placed him under house arrest on Monday evening at his Brasilia residence. The police also seized his mobile phone. Supporters of the former president soon gathered outside the residential development where he lives to show their support.
Bolsonaro’s lawyers said in a statement that an appeal against the decision would be lodged, arguing that the former president had not violated any court order.
The house arrest order was issued by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is facing sanctions by the administration of United States President Donald Trump for overseeing the case against Bolsonaro.
Moraes said Bolsonaro had violated precautionary measures imposed by the court restricting the former president’s social media use and political messaging.
The prosecution accuses Bolsonaro of leading an armed criminal organization, attempting to stage a coup and attempting a violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, aggravated damage and deterioration of listed heritage.
A coup conviction carries a sentence of up to 12 years.
The former president’s supporters stormed and ransacked the National Congress and other state institutions in January 2023 to reject Lula’s victory. After his defeat weeks earlier, Bolsonaro had declined to publicly concede his loss.
Bolsonaro forcefully rejects the allegations against him, describing his prosecution as a witch-hunt.
Moraes said in his decision on Monday that the former president was posting content on the social media channels of his three lawmaker sons.
The judge added that Bolsonaro has spread messages with “a clear content of encouragement and instigation to attacks against the Supreme Court and a blatant support for foreign intervention in the Brazilian Judiciary”.
In July, Moraes froze the assets of Bolsonaro’s son, Eduardo, on suspicion that the funds are being used to lobby the Trump administration against the Brazilian government.
Eduardo lashed out against Moraes, accusing him of acting like a dictator.
“If he thinks this will make me stop, I make it clear: I will not be intimidated, and I will not be silenced. I prepared myself for this moment,” the former president’s son said in a social media post last month.
“This is just another demonstration of abuse of power and confirms everything I have been denouncing in Washington and to authorities worldwide.”
The house arrest ruling will keep Bolsonaro under ankle monitoring and allow only his relatives and lawyers to visit him. All mobile phones from his home will also be seized.
The prosecution of Bolsonaro has caused a deep diplomatic rift between Brazil and the Trump administration.
Last month, Trump imposed 50 percent tariffs on Brazil, directly tying the tariffs to the trial of his fellow right-wing politician Bolsonaro. Then, last week, the US administration imposed sanctions against Moraes, accusing him of “arbitrary detentions that violate human rights”.
President Lula has rebuked the US sanctions as “unacceptable”.
“The Brazilian government stands in solidarity with (Moraes), who is the target of sanctions motivated by the actions of Brazilian politicians who betray our country and our people in defense of their own interests,” Lula said, referring to Bolsonaro.
The US State Department swiftly condemned the decision to place Bolsonaro under house arrest on Monday.
“Justice Moraes, now a US-sanctioned human rights abuser, continues to use Brazil’s institutions to silence opposition and threaten democracy,” the department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs said in a post on X.
“Putting even more restrictions on Jair Bolsonaro’s ability to defend himself in public is not a public service,” it added.
