Federal police have raided the home and headquarters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, with authorities ordering him to wear an ankle monitor amid concerns he may flee the country.
Police said in a statement Friday that they had issued search warrants ordered by the country’s Supreme Court, but did not name Bolsonaro, who governed Latin America’s largest country from 2019 to 2022.
Brazil’s Supreme Court later confirmed the raid, quoting the country’s prosecutor general as saying there was a “concrete” possibility that Bolsonaro would flee the country amid his ongoing trial over alleged efforts to overturn President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s election victory in January 2023.
The court stated that Bolsonaro had been ordered to wear an ankle bracelet, cease using social media, and sever all contacts with foreign officials. He was also barred from approaching foreign embassies or consulates in Brazil.
The top court’s statement also revealed that Brazilian police have accused Bolsonaro of working with his son, Eduardo, a Brazilian lawmaker who has been lobbying in Washington, DC, to influence the administration of US President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on Brazil.
The claim comes after Trump earlier this month threatened Brazil with a 50-percent tariffs on goods if Bolsonaro is not granted legal reprieve.
Responding to the latest actions, Bolsonaro’s lawyers expressed “surprise and indignation” at what they called “severe precautionary measures imposed against him”. They added that Bolsonaro has so far complied with court orders.
In a post on social media, Eduardo Bolsonaro alleged that the legal actions were retaliation for a video his father posted on Thursday, thanking Trump for his support.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, the elder Bolsonaro denied that he was considering fleeing the country.
“The goal is supreme humiliation,” he said.
Trump tariff threats
In a Truth Social post last week, Trump claimed that Brazilian authorities have “done nothing but come after [Bolsonaro], day after day, night after night, month after month, year after year!”
“He is not guilty of anything, except having fought for THE PEOPLE,” Trump wrote.
Brazilian Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet, in a 517-page document released late on Monday, called for Bolsonaro to be convicted for his alleged crimes, which could see the former leader spend decades behind bars.
“The evidence is clear: the defendant acted systematically, throughout his mandate and after his defeat at the polls, to incite insurrection and the destabilisation of the democratic rule of law,” Gonet said in the filing.
Trump himself faced four criminal indictments following his first term, including one related to his efforts to overturn his own 2020 election loss. He, like Bolsonaro, has repeatedly claimed he has been the victim of a political “witch hunt”.
The US pressure campaign comes as Trump continues to threaten sweeping reciprocal tariffs on dozens of trade partners, although the threat against Brazil has stood out for its particularly personal tone.
Trump has maintained friendly ties with Bolsonaro, sometimes called the “Trump of the Tropics”, stretching back to the US president’s first term from 2017 to 2021.
Reporting from Rio de Janeiro, Al Jazeera’s Monica Yanakiew said the situation represents a growing rupture between the US and Lula’s administration, which has already been roiled by US tariffs on steel and aluminum.
“This is no longer about a legal procedure here in Brazil or trade,” Yanakiew said. “It’s a rift involving the United States president, the Brazilian president, the Supreme Court and the country’s former president, Bolsonaro.”
For his part, Lula on Thursday said Trump’s tariff threat lacked “logic”.
“We cannot have President Trump forgetting that he was elected to govern the US, not to be the emperor of the world,” Lula said.
He added that Bolsonaro was not “being judged personally” by the country’s independent judiciary, but “being judged by the acts he tried to organise a coup d’etat”.
