Brazil justice suspends visits to ex-President Bolsonaro for 30 days

SAO PAULO, July 17 – Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ruled on Friday to suspend former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest, from receiving visits for a 30-day period, only allowing medical care and lawyers, the decision showed.

Moraes said a social media post from Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, son of Jair Bolsonaro and a presidential hopeful in the October elections, violated the conditions of the ex-president’s house arrest.

Amid a familial rift, the senator shared over the weekend a letter written by his father, in which the elder Bolsonaro said it was time “to set aside any differences, and have everyone commit to supporting” his son’s presidential run.

Jair Bolsonaro, who was sentenced last year to over 27 years in prison for plotting a coup after losing the 2022 election to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, cannot use social media or phone, directly or through third parties, under the terms of his humanitarian house arrest.

A lawyer for the ex-president, who was placed this year under house arrest on health grounds, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this week, Moraes had already barred Senator Bolsonaro from visiting his father for 90 days as a result of the letter, a decision the younger Bolsonaro called an “attempt to interfere in the elections”.

In his ruling on Friday, Moraes also banned the ex-president from receiving visits “with a political-electoral finality” until the end of the elections, and from releasing “political-electoral remarks,” including by third parties. REUTERS