A Brazilian judge on Monday, August 4th, placed former president Jair Bolsonaro under house arrest for breaking a social media ban.
Bolsonaro is on trial at the Supreme Court for allegedly plotting to cling to power after losing the 2022 elections to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
President Donald Trump has sought to punish Brazil, a longtime U.S. ally, for what he sees as a politically motivated witch hunt targeting Bolsonaro by imposing eye-watering tariffs on Latin America’s biggest economy.
The 70-year-old Bolsonaro is banned from social media for the duration of the proceedings, and third parties are barred from sharing his public remarks.
But on Sunday, his allies defied the order by sharing footage online of a call between the former army captain and his eldest son, Flavio, at a solidarity rally in Rio de Janeiro.
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes reacted furiously, declaring that the judiciary would not allow a defendant to “treat it like a fool” because of his “political and economic power.”
Criticizing Bolsonaro’s “repeated failure” to comply with the court’s restrictions on him during the trial, he placed him under house arrest at his home in the capital, Brasilia.
He also barred the country’s former leader (2019-2022) from receiving visitors, apart from his lawyers, and from using mobile phones, and warned that any new transgression would lead to his detention.
Several mobile phones were seized at his home on Monday, the police said.
Washington condemned the new restrictions on Monday night, with the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs issuing a statement on X.
“Minister Alexandre de Moraes, already sanctioned by the United States for human rights violations, continues to use Brazilian institutions to silence the opposition and threaten democracy,” the bureau posted. “Let Bolsonaro speak!”
U.S. officials added that they would “hold accountable all those who collaborate with or facilitate sanctioned conduct.”
