Brazil's Supreme Court orders house arrest for former President Bolsonaro

Brazils Supreme Court on Monday ordered the house arrest for former President Jair Bolsonaro on trial for allegedly masterminding a coup plot to remain in office despite his defeat in the 2022 election a case that has gripped the South American country as it faces a trade war with the Trump administrationJustice Alexandre de Moraes who oversees the case against Bolsonaro before the top court said in his decision that the 70yearold former president had violated precautionary measures imposed on him by spreading content through his three lawmaker sonsBolsonaros lawyers said in a statement that he will appeal the decision They said his words good afternoon Copacabana good afternoon my Brazil a hug to everyone this is for our freedom broadcast from a cell phone of one of his sons during a Sunday protest in Rio de Janeiro cannot be regarded as ignoring precautionary measures or as a criminal actThe trial of the farright leader is receiving renewed attention after US President Donald Trump directly tied a 50per cent tariff on imported Brazilian goods to his allys judicial situation Trump has called the proceedings a witch hunt triggering nationalist reactions from leaders of all branches of power in Brazil including President Luiz Inacio Lula da SilvaThe case against BolsonaroBrazils prosecutors accuse Bolsonaro of heading a criminal organisation that plotted to overturn the election including plans to kill Lula and Justice de Moraes after the farright leader narrowly lost his reelection bid in 2022 Mondays order followed one from the top court last month that ordered Bolsonaro to wear an electronic ankle monitor and imposed a curfew on his activities while the proceedings are underwayFollowing news of the arrest order a staffer with Brazils federal police told The Associated Press that federal agents had seized cell phones at Bolsonaros residence in the capital of Brasilia as ordered by de Moraes in his decision The staffer spoke on condition of anonymity due to their lack of authorisation to speak about the matter publiclyBolsonaro is expected to remain in Brasilia for his house arrest as he is not allowed to travel He also has a house in Rio de Janeiro where he held his electoral base as a lawmaker for three decades The former army captain is the fourth former president of Brazil to be arrested since the end of the countrys military rule from 1964 to 1985 which Bolsonaro supportedFlagrant disrespectThe move from the Brazilian justice comes a day after tens of thousands of Bolsonaro supporters took the streets in the cities of Sao Paulo and Rio pleading for Brazils congress to pardon him and hundreds of others who are either under trial or jailed for their roles in the destruction of government buildings in Brasilia on January 8 2023 On Sunday Bolsonaro addressed supporters in Rio through the phone of one of his sons which de Moraes described as illegalThe flagrant disrespect to the precautionary measures was so obvious that the defendants son Sen Flavio Bolsonaro decided to remove the posting in his Instagram profile with the objective of hiding the legal transgression de Moraes wrote Lawyers for the former Brazilian president did not make comments after the decision Flavio Bolsonaro claimed on X that Brazil is officially in a dictatorship after his fathers house arrestThe persecution of de Moraes against Bolsonaro has no limits the senator wrote De Moraes added in his ruling that Jair Bolsonaro who governed Brazil between 2019 and 2022 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 likely a veiled reference to Trumps support for BolsonaroDe Moraes also said that Bolsonaro addressed protesters gathered in Copacabana in Rio on Sunday so his supporters could try to coerce the Supreme Court Last week the US Treasury Department announced sanctions on de Moraes over alleged suppression of freedom of expression and the ongoing trial of Bolsonaro Justice will not allow a defendant to make a fool out of it de Moraes said in his decision Justice is the same for all A defendant who willingly ignores precautionary measures for the second time must suffer legal consequencesPossible trouble aheadCreomar de Souza a political analyst of Dharma Political Risk and Strategy a political consultancy firm based in Brasilia said Bolsonaros house arrest opens a new moment for the countrys opposition which could gather steam in fighting against Lulas reelection bid next year Now de Souza said the 2026 election looks like turmoil and the political debate in Brazil will likely be split between two key strugglesOne is the effort of Bolsonaro supporters to keep strong on the right no matter if it is pushing for amnesty in congress or putting themselves physically out there the analyst said The second is how the Lula administration will try to show that the country has a government This is just the start he concluded The latest decision from the top court keeps Bolsonaro under ankle monitoring allows only family members and lawyers to visit him and seizes all mobile phones from his homeLula was imprisoned for 580 days between 2018 and 2019 in a corruption conviction that was later tossed out by the Supreme Court citing the bias of the judge in the case Michel Temer who became president after Dilma Rousseff was impeached in 2016 and arrested for 10 days in 2019 in connection with a graft investigation which later ended without a convictionEarlier this year de Moraes ordered the detention of President Fernando Collor who was in office from 1990 to 1992 until he was impeached The 75yearold former president was convicted for money laundering and corruption in 2023 and is now serving his more than eightyear sentenceThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and 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