Brazilian justice: ex-president Jair Bolsonaro escapes prison for the time being

Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro escaped the pre-trial detention Thursday, but the Supreme Court warned him that he would immediately go to prison if he again broke a ban on expressing himself on social networks.

Jair Bolsonaro, 70, has been targeted since last week by a ban on expressing themselves on social networks, directly or through third parties, due to suspicions of maneuvers to obstruct his trial for attempted coup.

The Supreme Court must complete this trial in the coming weeks. The ex-far-right state head (2019-2022) is accused of having tried to prevent the inauguration of the current left-wing president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, 79, his fall in the 2022 elections.

As part of the investigation to obstruct justice, Jair Bolsonaro has been forced since Friday to wear an electronic bracelet, in addition to the ban on social networks and other measures.

Judge Moraes, whom Jair Bolsonaro often described as a “dictator”, said Thursday that a publication of the parliamentarian Eduardo Bolsonaro relaying an intervention by his father was “an attempt to bypass” the measures taken against the leader of the conservative camp.

The publication in question, accompanied by criticism of the son Bolsonaro against justice, relayed an extract of video in which the former president, present Monday at the siege of the Parliament, showed for the first time before the press his electronic bracelet and, in a furious tone, denounced a “maximum humiliation”.

“Regarding an isolated irregularity without information on other offenses at this stage”, the Moraes judge has however ruled out for the time being in placement in pre -trial detention. But he warned that any gap would earn him “immediate” detention. “Justice is blind but it is not silly!”, The magistrate warned in his decision.

“It is a coarse and desperate attempt to censor me using my father as a hostage,” reacted Eduardo Bolsonaro on the social network X, treating the judge of “Lochy tyrant”.

This son Bolsonaro settled a few months ago in the United States, where he pleads with the Trump administration for pressures in favor of his father. He recently had a doubt.

Model of the former Brazilian president, Donald Trump announced in July additional customs duties of 50% on products from Brazil, justifying this punitive measure by a supposed “witch hunt” against Jair Bolsonaro.

And the State Department said that Moraes judge and other members of the Supreme Court were deprived of visa in the United States. The investigation launched by the Brazilian high jurisdiction against Jair and Eduardo Bolsonaro aims to determine whether the campaign carried out with Washington is an obstruction of justice.

Judge Moraes had given a period of 24 hours on Monday to the defense of Jair Bolsonaro, under penalty of “immediate prison” of the former president, to be explained on the dissemination of his declarations of the same day in Parliament, which had been widely relayed by his supporters.

Jair Bolsonaro “was in no way prohibited to give interviews” and therefore “not violated” the decision taken against him, had replied his lawyers. They had explained that the former president had not been informed of his prohibition to express themselves via the platforms, a measure which had aroused confusion and criticism, within the Bolsonarist movement but also of the press and the lawyers.

The defense had therefore asked the magistrate that he specifies the extent of the restrictions of expression to which the ex-head of state is now subject. Judge Moraes replied on Thursday that Jair Bolsonaro is not subject to “no ban” to grant interviews or pronounce speeches. According to him, it is only forbidden to use publications on social networks as a “modus operandi” to obstruct justice.

Already ineligible until 2030 for disinformation on the electronic voting system before the 2022 election, Jair Bolsonaro claims his innocence and says he is a victim of “persecution”. If the court judge the guilty of attempted coup, he risks up to 40 years in prison.