Brazil’s Supreme Court on Monday ordered Jair Bolsonaro’s defense to explain a possible violation by the former president of a ban on using a cell phone while under house arrest, which could send him back to prison.
Sentenced to 27 years in prison for attempted coup d’état, the former far-right leader (2019-2022) was authorized to serve his sentence at home last week for health reasons. He returned home on Friday, after two weeks of hospitalization for bronchopneumonia.
According to the rules of this house arrest, Bolsonaro, 71, is not allowed to use a mobile phone or any other means of external communication, including through other people.
In a document obtained by AFP, Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes asks for explanations on a statement from one of the sons of the ex-president, Eduardo Bolsonaro, which could indicate a violation of this rule.
24 hours to explain
During CPAC, the annual conference of the American conservative movement, which took place in recent days in Texas, Eduardo Bolsonaro told the public that he was “showing” the meeting to his father by filming it with his phone. The magistrate gave Jair Bolsonaro’s lawyers 24 hours to provide “clarification” on this subject.
A violation of the rules of house arrest, which was granted to him on a temporary basis for 90 days renewable, could lead to his return to the Papuda prison complex, where he was incarcerated before his hospitalization.
Bolsonaro was convicted in September by the Supreme Court, which found him guilty of conspiring to stay in power despite his 2022 election defeat to current left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
After spending another period under house arrest, he was imprisoned in November for trying to damage his electronic bracelet with a soldering iron – a move interpreted by Judge Moraes as an attempt to escape.
