
BRASILIA – Brazil’s Supreme Court placed former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is standing trial on charges of plotting a coup, under house arrest on Aug 4, underscoring the court’s resolve despite escalating tariffs and sanctions from US President Donald Trump.
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the target of US Treasury sanctions last week, issued the arrest order. His decision cited Bolsonaro’s failure to comply with restraining orders imposed for allegedly courting Mr Trump’s interference in the case.
Bolsonaro is on trial before the Supreme Court on charges he conspired with allies to violently overturn his 2022 electoral loss to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Mr Trump has referred to the case as a “witch hunt” and called it grounds for a 50 per cent tariff on Brazilian goods taking effect on Aug 6.
The US State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs condemned the decision to arrest Bolsonaro.
“Justice Moraes, now a US-sanctioned human rights abuser, continues to use Brazil’s institutions to silence opposition and threaten democracy,” the department 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. Let Bolsonaro speak!”
Mr Moraes also banned Bolsonaro from receiving visits, with exceptions for lawyers and people authorised by the court, and use of a cell phone either directly or through third parties.
A press representative for Bolsonaro confirmed that he was placed under house arrest late afternoon on Aug 4 and that a cell phone had been seized.
Bolsonaro’s lawyers said in a statement they would appeal the decision, arguing the former president had not violated any court order.
In an interview with Reuters in July, Bolsonaro called Mr Moraes a “dictator” and said the restraining orders against him were acts of “cowardice”.
Some Bolsonaro allies have worried that Mr Trump’s tactics may be backfiring in Brazil, compounding trouble for Bolsonaro and rallying public support behind Mr Lula’s leftist government.
However, demonstrations by Bolsonaro supporters on Aug 3 – the largest in months – show that Mr Trump’s tirades and sanctions against Mr Moraes have also fired up the far-right former army captain’s political base.
Bolsonaro appeared virtually at a protest in Rio de Janeiro via phone call to his son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, in what some saw as the latest test of his restraining orders.
On Aug 4, Senator Bolsonaro told CNN Brasil that the Aug 4 order from Mr Moraes was “a clear display of vengeance” for the US sanctions against the judge, adding: “I hope the Supreme Court can put the brakes on this person (Moraes) causing so much upheaval.”
The judge’s orders, including the restraining orders under penalty of arrest, have been upheld by the wider court.
Those orders and the larger case before the Supreme Court came after two years of investigations into Bolsonaro’s role in an election-denying movement that culminated in riots by his supporters that rocked Brasilia in January 2023. That unrest drew comparisons to the Jan 6, 2021 riots at the US Capitol after Mr Trump’s 2020 electoral defeat.
In contrast with the tangle of criminal cases which mostly stalled against Mr Trump, Brazilian courts moved swiftly against Bolsonaro, threatening to end his political career and fracture his right-wing movement. An electoral court has already banned Bolsonaro from running for public office until 2030.
Another of Bolsonaro’s sons, Mr Eduardo Bolsonaro, a Brazilian congressman, moved to the US around the same time the former president’s criminal trial kicked off to drum up support for his father in Washington. The younger Bolsonaro said the move had influenced Mr Trump’s decision to impose new tariffs on Brazil.
In a statement after the arrest on Aug 4, Congressman Bolsonaro called Mr Moraes “an out-of-control psychopath who never hesitates to double down”.
Mr Trump in July shared a letter he had sent to Bolsonaro. “I have seen the terrible treatment you are receiving at the hands of an unjust system turned against you,” he wrote. “This trial should end immediately!”
Washington based its sanctions against Mr Moraes last week on accusations that the judge had authorised arbitrary pre-trial detentions and suppressed freedom of expression.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Bolsonaro’s house arrest.
The arrest could give Mr Trump a pretext to pile on additional measures against Brazil, said Prof Graziella Testa, a political science professor at the Federal University of Parana, adding that Bolsonaro seemed to be consciously provoking escalation.
“I think things could escalate because this will be seen as a reaction to the Magnitsky sanction” against Moraes, said Mr Leonardo Barreto, a partner at the Think Policy political risk consultancy in Brasilia, referring to the asset freeze imposed on Mr Moraes last week. REUTERS
BrazilUnited StatesDonald TrumpLuiz Inacio Lula da SilvaJair Bolsonaro