Brazil’s Supreme Court threatens to arrest Jair Bolsonaro

The Brazilian justice of the Supreme Court has threatened to detain former President Jair Bolsonaro.

Judge Alexander de Moraes accused Bolsonaro of breaking a ban that prevented the former president from appearing in audiences, videos and interviews shared on social media.

Justice Moraes said the former president may encounter “immediate imprisonment” unless his lawyers cannot give a satisfactory explanation within 24 hours why their client appeared in a video shared by Bolsonaro’s son, Eduardo, on Monday.

Bolsonaro is a court for a coup to think to prevent President Louis Inasio Lula to Silva to take office in 2023, which he denies.

Moraes has led the investigation of the claims Bolsonaro and his allies have committed “anti -democratic acts”.

Moraes has already imposed a number of Bolsonaro restrictions on Friday, including at night and time on the weekend, as well as 24-hour surveillance to prevent him from running away from the country while he is under court.

Bolsonaro is also ordered to refrain from contacting foreign governments and their embassies in Brazil.

In addition, the former president must carry an electronic ankle label and is forbidden to communicate with his son Eduardo, who lobbies on behalf of his father in the United States.

Bolsonaro insists that he has never considered leaving Brazil and called justice Moraes a “dictator.”

The measures were ordered by Justice Moraes after a request by the Federal Police and with the approval of the Brazilian General Prosecutor’s Office.

Earlier, police accused the former president and his son Eduardo of trying to prevent the trial against older Bolsonaro and violate Brazil’s sovereignty by encouraging the US government to intervene in the process.

On Monday, Moraes gave more details about the restrictions, explaining that Bolsonaro was not only forbidden to appear in the videos and audio he himself shares on social media, but also since his appearance in shared or published by third countries.

Shortly thereafter, Bolsonaro spoke with journalists as he left the congress, where he met with the opposition MPs.

He showed them his electronic ankle marker, calling it “a symbol of the biggest humiliation.”

Interaction footage was shared on social media by Eduardo Bolsonaro and supporters of the former president, what Moraes says is a violation of the restrictions he has imposed.

The trial of Bolsonaro, which governed Brazil from January 2019 to December 2022, was followed by US President Donald Trump, who condemned him as a “witch hunt”.

The two men are long-standing allies and earlier this month Trump threatened to hit a 50% tariff for Brazilian goods starting on August 1st.

In his letter to the current Brazilian President Louis Inasio Lula da Silva, Trump cited Brazil’s treatment for Bolsonaro as a trigger for the tariff march.

The tension between the two governments increased even more on Friday when – in response to the restrictions imposed on Bolsonaro – the Trump administration canceled Moraes’ US visa and other judges of the Supreme Court.

President Lula called it a “arbitrary and completely unfounded measure” and condemned “the intervention of a country in the justice system.”