SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ruled on Monday to keep former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro under house arrest, according to a court document seen by Reuters.
Bolsonaro has been under house arrest since August for failing to comply with restraining orders related to his alleged attempts to persuade U.S. President Donald Trump to interfere in an investigation where he was accused of plotting a coup to remain in power after losing the 2022 election.
The former president was later convicted in a separate case of plotting a coup and sentenced last month to 27 years and three months in prison.
Trump has called the case a “witch hunt” and retaliated by imposing steep tariffs on Brazil’s exports, sanctioning the judge overseeing the case against Bolsonaro, and taking away the visas of several Brazilian officials.
In the weeks following Bolsonaro’s conviction, his legal team formally requested his release from house arrest, saying he had not been charged in the investigation that led to his detention.
BOLSONARO DEFENSE REPEATS THAT THERE WERE NO CHARGES
Justice Moraes rejected the defense’s arguments, ruling that the house arrest was “necessary and appropriate” as Bolsonaro’s continued freedom posed risks demonstrated by his conviction and repeated violation of precautionary measures.
“The guarantee of public order and the need to ensure the full application of criminal law justify the maintenance of house arrest and other precautionary measures,” Moraes said.
Bolsonaro’s legal defense said late Monday they disagreed with the ruling and reiterated there was an absence of charges against the former president.
“If there were no charges and no criminal action, there is no process to be protected or future punishment to be guaranteed by the measures which, let us repeat, are ‘precautionary,'” Paulo Cunha Bueno, one of Bolsonaro’s lawyers, said on a post on X.
(Reporting by Luciana Magalhaes; Writing by Isabel Teles and Fernando Cardoso; Editing by Brendan O’Boyle, Lisa Shumaker and Bernadette Baum)
