The majority on a Supreme Court panel in Brazil has voted to bring Eduardo Bolsonaro, the third child of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, to trial on charges of obstruction of justice.
On Friday, three of the five justices on the panel accepted an indictment against the younger Bolsonaro, which accused him of using threats to interfere with a court case against his father.
In September, Brazil’s Supreme Court sentenced Jair Bolsonaro, who led Brazil from 2019 to 2023, to more than 27 years in prison for allegedly plotting to subvert his loss in the 2022 election by means of a coup.
Eduardo Bolsonaro has been among his father’s most prominent defenders throughout his myriad legal woes.
An elected official in the Chamber of Deputies, Eduardo travelled multiple times to the United States in the wake of Brazil’s 2022 election, meeting with President Donald Trump and his Republican officials.
In March, Eduardo announced he would move to the US to petition full-time on behalf of his father.
“I will focus 100 percent of my time on this single cause: to seek justice,” he said in a social media video at the time.
But a majority of the justices on the Supreme Court panel determined that there was enough evidence to suggest Eduardo’s actions in the US may have amounted to an illegal pressure campaign, designed to sway his father’s court case.
“There is significant evidence that Eduardo Nantes Bolsonaro’s actions aimed to create an environment of institutional and social instability, applying increasing sanctions to Brazilian authorities and causing economic harm to Brazil,” one justice, Alexandre de Moraes, wrote in his opinion.
Two other justices, Flavio Dino and Cristiano Zanin, joined de Moraes in voting to proceed to trial, granting a prosecutorial request. Voting on the Supreme Court panel remains open until November 25.
Trump protests Bolsonaro case
At question is how Eduardo Bolsonaro may have lobbied the Trump administration to take action against Brazil, in order to drop the case against his father.
Jair Bolsonaro and Trump have been close allies, and Trump has shown a willingness to intervene in the politics of Latin American countries to support fellow right-wing leaders.
In Jair Bolsonaro’s case, Trump issued a letter in July accusing Brazil of censoring right-wing voices like the former president’s. He also threatened to impose steep tariffs if the case against Bolsonaro continued.
“The way that Brazil has treated former President Bolsonaro, a Highly Respected Leader throughout the World during his Term, including by the United States, is an international disgrace,” Trump wrote in the letter, addressed to current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
“This trial should not be taking place. It is a Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!”
An executive order that same month declared Brazil’s actions a “national emergency” and an “unusual and extraordinary threat” against US interests.
By August, Trump had followed through with his economic threats, slapping Brazil with 50 percent tariffs on many of its exports to the US. It was the highest US tariff rate for any country in the world, matched only by India later that month.
The Trump administration also took specific action against Justice de Moraes, who spearheaded the investigation into former President Bolsonaro.
On July 18, the US Department of State announced it would strip visas from de Moraes, his family and “his allies on the court”, though no additional justice was named directly.
Then, on July 30, the US sanctioned de Moraes for “engaging in a targeted and politically motivated effort designed to silence political critics”. The sanctions came under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, ordinarily reserved for grave human rights abuses and corruption.
By September, the sanctions had been expanded to include de Moraes’s wife, Viviane Barci de Moraes.
Close ties to Trump White House
Eduardo Bolsonaro has been vocal in his support of Trump’s efforts on behalf of his father. He has also become a frequent presence at the White House and events themed to Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.
At one event in March, Eduardo was seen conversing at the Trump Hotel with former White House adviser Steve Bannon, while sporting a green hat with a variation on Trump’s slogan: “Make Brazil Great Again.”
In August, he told BBC News in Washington, DC, that he supported Trump’s tariff campaign against Brazil.
“I admire President Trump. We’ve met several times in his first and second term,” he told the British broadcaster. “We fought first to sanction Alexandre de Moraes. But if President Trump starts with tariffs, I do believe that he is right and I do support him because of that.”
But on Friday, in a statement posted to social media, Eduardo Bolsonaro denounced the Supreme Court panel’s decision to bring him to trial in absentia, calling it a “WITCH HUNT”. He added that he had no control over the sanctions Trump applied, nor the tariffs.
“Tariffs and the application of the Magnitsky Act are neither at my disposal nor illegal,” Eduardo wrote. “It is clear that Moraes wants to convict me.”
He went on to argue that he believes de Moraes is attempting to use Brazil’s “clean record law” — a tool to prevent corruption in the government — to bar him from running for office in the future. “Can this be called democracy?” he asked.
If convicted on the obstruction charges, Eduardo Bolsonaro could face a fine and prison time of up to four years.
Just last week, the Supreme Court panel also rejected his father’s attempt to reduce or toss his prison sentence. Jair Bolsonaro remains under house arrest while he appeals his conviction.
