Brazil’s Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered former president Jair Bolsonaro to house arrest on Monday (Aug. 4). The decision includes the use of an electronic ankle monitor, a ban on visits except from close family members and lawyers, and the seizure of all cell phones at the residence.
Moraes said Bolsonaro violated precautionary measures by using the social media accounts of allies, including his sons, to post messages attacking the Supreme Federal Court (STF, in Portuguese) and defending foreign intervention in Brazil’s judiciary. According to the justice, even without using his own social media, the former president “acted deliberately to circumvent the restrictions.”
“The covert participation of Jair Messias Bolsonaro, preparing pre-fabricated material for demonstrations and social media, clearly showed that he maintained the illegal conduct of trying to coerce the Supreme Federal Court and obstruct justice, in blatant disrespect for previously imposed precautionary measures,” Moraes stated, referring to the pro-Bolsonaro demonstrations held in several Brazilian cities on Sunday (Aug. 3).
In Rio de Janeiro, far-right Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, one of the event organizers, briefly put his father on speakerphone to speak to the public and later posted a video showing Bolsonaro at home sending a message to supporters: “Good afternoon, Copacabana. Good afternoon, my Brazil. A hug to everyone. It’s for our freedom. We are together”, said Jair Bolsonaro.
Moraes wrote in his decision that Bolsonaro’s actions reveal “the need and appropriateness of harsher measures to prevent the defendant from repeatedly committing the same offenses.” According to the justice, the former president disrespected previous restrictions, such as the ban on using social media and contacting other defendants, and continued acting indirectly by producing content to be shared by third parties, maintaining his influence in the digital political debate.
According to Moraes, it would make no sense to allow Bolsonaro to repeat the same strategy he had already used on other occasions: publishing content on the social media accounts of allies or supporters previously organized to spread illicit messages. “As with any precautionary measure imposed by the judiciary, restrictions on the use of social media cannot be circumvented by illicit schemes that, through ‘digital militias,’ political supporters, or other defendants, continue to propagate the same unlawful acts,” he wrote.
Threat to national sovereignty
For the justice, this organized activity of “digital militias” and political allies serves to continue pressuring foreign heads of state to interfere in the progress of the Brazilian justice system in an attempt to generate external and internal pressure on national authorities, which, according to Moraes, constitutes a direct threat to the country’s sovereignty.
Moraes makes reference to U.S. president Donald Trump without naming him directly. Last week, the Republican signed an executive order establishing an additional 40% tariff on Brazilian products, bringing the total to 50%. A 10% surcharge had already been announced in April this year.
In his justification, the U.S. president defended former president Jair Bolsonaro, reinforcing the political nature of the measure. He accused the Brazilian state of politically persecuting the former leader and his allies, in addition to promoting “serious human rights violations” and undermining the rule of law. “The persecution, intimidation, harassment, censorship, and prosecutions of Jair Bolsonaro and thousands of his supporters are serious abuses,” the document says.
The surcharge was announced after the former president’s son, federal congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, who has lived in the U.S. since March 2025, lobbied American allies to respond to Bolsonaro’s trial for the attempted coup. He has already admitted to being on a campaign for his father’s amnesty.
In addition, Trump sanctioned Supreme Court Justice Moraes under the Global Magnitsky Act. The sanctions include freezing of assets in the U.S., financial restrictions, and a ban on transactions with U.S. companies and citizens.
