Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has ruled that only Jair Bolsonaro’s lawyers may visit the former president, who was placed under house arrest Monday night for violating previous court orders. Moraes further decreed that Bolsonaro’s sons—Flávio, Carlos, and Renan Bolsonaro—must seek permission from the South American nation’s highest court to see their father, CNN Brasil reported.
Authorized visitors are expressly forbidden from using cell phones, taking photographs, or recording images with Bolsonaro, Justice Moraes stated in his order. “Justice is not foolish, nor blind,” he wrote, adding that the investigation into “serious facts” occurring in Brazil between 2022 and 2023 cannot be distorted by “strategically forged artificial narratives aimed at manipulating public opinion and delegitimizing Brazilian institutions.” An exception permits contact between Bolsonaro and his wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, without judicial authorization, as they reside together in Brasília. Hours before her husband’s house arrest, Michelle Bolsonaro categorically ruled out running in Brazil’s presidential elections next year.
Meanwhile, Bolsonaro supporters staged overnight protests in Brasília, driving through city avenues with horns blaring to denounce the house arrest. Protesters later gathered outside the residential building in the capital’s Jardim Botânico neighborhood where the former right-wing leader will serve his confinement. “Brazil will stop,” demonstrators chanted, draped in Brazilian and American flags. Federal District military police intensified patrols in the central region and blocked access to the Ministries Esplanade, 13 kilometers away, to prevent protesters from reaching the Supreme Court.
Bolsonaro’s eldest son, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, told CNN, “We are officially in a dictatorship,” suggesting Washington would likely react. His brother, Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, echoed from the US, “Brazil is no longer a democracy.”
The United States also criticized the house arrest order. The US State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs stated via social media: “Judge (Alexandre de) Moraes, now a US-sanctioned human rights abuser, continues to use Brazilian institutions to silence opposition and threaten democracy… Imposing further restrictions on Jair Bolsonaro’s ability to publicly defend himself is no public service. Let Bolsonaro speak! The United States condemns Moraes’ order imposing house arrest on Bolsonaro and will hold accountable all those who enable and are complicit in this conduct.”
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