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Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been ordered to wear an ankle monitor and adhere to a curfew, following court concerns he might flee the country while on trial.
Bolsonaro, who governed Brazil from 2019 to 2022, is accused of plotting a coup to prevent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from assuming office in January 2023. He denies the allegations.
The development follows attempts by U.S. President Donald Trump to influence the case, which he has characterized as a “witch hunt,” by threatening significant tariffs on Brazilian goods.
Bolsonaro has stated that the court-imposed restrictions amount to “supreme humiliation” and maintained that he has never considered leaving Brazil.
Last Friday, police, acting on orders from the Supreme Court, raided his residence and political headquarters.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes has also ordered Bolsonaro’s suspension from social media and prohibited him from communicating with his son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, who has been lobbying on his behalf in the U.S., as well as foreign ambassadors, diplomats, or embassies.
The former president will be subject to 24-hour surveillance and must comply with a nighttime curfew.
Justice Moraes stated that Bolsonaro acted deliberately and illegally, along with his son Eduardo, to instigate sanctions against Brazilian public officials.
In a statement, Bolsonaro’s legal team expressed “surprise and outrage” at the court’s decision, asserting that the former president has “always complied with the court’s orders.”
According to the Federal Police, Bolsonaro has attempted to impede the trial and engaged in actions constituting coercion, obstruction of justice, and an attack on national sovereignty.
Last week, the U.S. president threatened a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods, effective August 1, citing Brazil’s treatment of Bolsonaro.
President Lula responded by stating he would match any tariffs imposed on Brazil by the U.S.. In a post on X, he affirmed Brazil’s status as a “sovereign country with independent institutions” where “no one is above the law.”
On Thursday, Trump shared a letter on Truth Social addressed to Bolsonaro, alleging that the criminal case constituted political persecution and that his tariff threat aimed to pressure Brazilian authorities to drop the charges.
The U.S. president has drawn parallels between the prosecution and legal challenges he faced between his presidential terms.
Bolsonaro is on trial alongside seven others accused of involvement in events that culminated in the storming of government buildings by his supporters a week after Lula’s inauguration in January 2023.
The eight defendants face five charges: attempting to stage a coup, involvement in an armed criminal organization, attempting to violently abolish the democratic rule of law, aggravated damage, and deterioration of listed heritage.
If convicted, Bolsonaro, 70, could face decades in prison.
The former president has consistently denied the charges, dismissing them as “grave and baseless” and claiming to be the victim of “political persecution” intended to prevent him from running for president again in 2026.
Speaking in court in June, Bolsonaro denounced coups as “abominable” and asserted that there had “never been talk of a coup” between him and his military commanders.
He narrowly lost the 2022 presidential election to his left-wing rival, Lula.
Bolsonaro never publicly conceded defeat, and many of his supporters spent weeks camped outside army barracks attempting to persuade the military to prevent Lula from being sworn in.
On January 8, 2023, a week after Lula’s inauguration, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court, and the presidential palace in what federal investigators have characterized as an attempted coup.
Bolsonaro was in the U.S. at the time and has consistently denied any connection to the rioters.
A federal investigation was launched into the riots and the events leading up to them. Investigators subsequently reported finding evidence of a “criminal organization” that had “acted in a coordinated manner” to keep then-President Bolsonaro in power.
Their 884-page report, unsealed in November 2024, alleged that “then-President Jair Messias Bolsonaro planned, acted, and was directly and effectively aware of the actions of the criminal organization aiming to launch a coup d’etat and eliminate the democratic rule of law.”
Brazil’s Attorney General Paulo Gonet went further in his report published last month, accusing Bolsonaro of not only being aware of but also leading the criminal organization that allegedly sought to overthrow Lula.
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