By GABRIELA SÁ PESSOA Associated Press
SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro has been ordered to wear an ankle monitor, his press office said on Friday.
The development came as federal police conducted searches at his home and his party’s headquarters in Brasília, according to people familiar with the court order.
Local media reported that Bolsonaro is also barred from using social media or contacting other individuals under investigation by the Supreme Federal Court, including his son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, a Brazilian lawmaker who currently lives in the United States and is known for his close ties to U.S. President Donald Trump.
A police statement said that officers in Brasília carried out “two search and seizure warrants, in addition to precautionary measures other than arrest, in compliance with a decision by the Supreme Court.” The statement did not name Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro is currently on trial at the Supreme Court accused of leading an alleged attempt to stage a coup to overturn the 2022 election in which he was defeated by left-wing president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Live aerial footage from local broadcasters showed federal police vehicles outside Bolsonaro’s residence in Brasília.
Congressman Sóstenes Cavalcante, the leader of Bolsonaro’s party in the lower house, told The Associated Press that officers also searched Bolsonaro’s office at the party’s headquarters. He described the operation as “another chapter in the persecution of conservatives and right-wing figures” in Brazil.
A lawyer for Bolsonaro did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Tuesday, Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet said in a report to the Supreme Court that the “evidence is clear: the defendant acted systematically, throughout his mandate and after his defeat at the polls, to incite insurrection and the destabilization of the democratic rule of law.”
Bolsonaro has described the trial on X as a “witch hunt,” echoing a term used by Trump when he came to his South American ally’s defense last week.
Last week, Trump imposed a 50% import tax on Brazil, directly tying the tariffs to Bolsonaro’s trial. The U.S. president has hosted the former Brazilian president at his Mar-a-Lago resort when both were in power in 2020. Trump compared the Brazilian’s situation to his own. On Tuesday, speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump repeated the claim that the trial is a “witch hunt.” ___
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