
Bolsonaro ‘witch-hunt' sparks US retaliation, judge who ordered ankle monitor faces visa ban
Moraes imposed strict measures on Bolsonaro — including requiring him to wear an electronic ankle monitor, remain at home during nighttime hours and refrain from using social media.
In a statement as reported by AFP, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, 'Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes's political witch hunt against Jair Bolsonaro created a persecution and censorship complex so sweeping that it not only violates basic rights of Brazilians, but also extends beyond Brazil's shores to target Americans.'
Reacting strongly to the decision to impose visa bans, a senior Brazilian judicial official on Friday said the country's judiciary 'will not be intimidated' by what he described as an arbitrary move.
In an escalation of tensions between US President Donald Trump and the government of Latin America's largest economy, visa bans were a response to the Supreme Court's decision to issue search warrants and restraining orders targeting Trump ally Bolsonaro.
Solicitor General Jorge Messias, the top judicial official for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's executive branch, said in a statement posted on X that Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet was also targeted by the ban. 'Rest assured that no improper manoeuvre or sordid conspiratorial act will intimidate our country's judiciary in the independent and dignified exercise of its task,' he added.
According to Reuters, Messias said the Brazilian officials were subject to 'arbitrary acts of visa revocation by a foreign nation on account of their fulfilment of their legitimate institutional responsibilities in accordance with constitutional terms.'
In addition to Moraes, seven other justices from Brazil's 11-member Supreme Court were also hit by the US visa restrictions, government institutional relations minister Gleisi Hoffmann said on Friday. They include justices Luís Roberto Barroso, Dias Toffoli, Cristiano Zanin, Flávio Dino, Cármen Lúcia, Edson Fachin, and Gilmar Mendes.
Trump has criticised the proceedings against Bolsonaro as a 'witch-hunt', a term he has used to describe his own treatment by political opponents, and has called for the charges to be dropped. In a letter last week, he announced a 50 per cent tariff on Brazilian goods starting August 1, opening the message with criticism of the trial.
Bolsonaro is on trial before Brazil's Supreme Court on charges of plotting a coup to stop Lula from taking office in January 2023. Bolsonaro has denied that he led an attempt to overthrow the government but has acknowledged taking part in meetings aimed at reversing the election's outcome.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Time of India
30 minutes ago
- Time of India
Jurists call for introspection and compensation upon acquittal in capital offences after prolonged incarceration
Mumbai: The Bombay high court's complete reversal of a guilty verdict, given by a special trial judge a decade ago, for 12 accused in the 11/7 case calls for introspection and a mechanism to compensate the acquitted, legal experts said on Monday. Senior counsel Amit Desai said that strictly legally speaking, the ruling highlights the vagaries of the system, especially when persons are facing a trial that attracts the hangman's noose. By itself, languishing behind bars for years awaiting a ruling on death sentence confirmation, and more so if the accused believes he is innocent and the belief is reinforced publicly by an acquittal by the higher court on merits, the years lost is akin to "mental torture", said Desai. You Can Also Check: Mumbai AQI | Weather in Mumbai | Bank Holidays in Mumbai | Public Holidays in Mumbai He said the time has come for the investigating officer to be made accountable so that the quality of the evidence gathered and placed for scrutiny during a trial measures up with fundamental rights, and the state must be saddled with the burden of compensation for flawed investigations. Several lawyers said failure to produce admissible evidence when procedures are not followed needs to become actionable against such officers, citing the recent Supreme Court bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol, and Sandeep Mehta. The Supreme Court recently acquitted a man over "faulty investigation, shaky evidence, and non-examination of material witnesses" in a 2011 case and said Parliament can take a leaf from the book of foreign jurisdictions to compensate people acquitted after long incarceration. Senior counsel Anand Grover said cases of custodial torture, when established, need compensation to ensure the rule of law. He cited how the Supreme Court, in a "breath of fresh air" on Monday, ordered the immediate arrest of a person accused of custodial torture and directed the union territory of J&K to pay compensation of Rs 50 lakh to the victim.


Time of India
40 minutes ago
- Time of India
2006 Mumbai train blasts case: CM Fadnavis calls Bombay high court verdict acquitting all 12 'very shocking'; vows to challenge in Supreme Court
NEW DELHI: Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday condemned the Bombay high court verdict acquitting all 12 accused in the 2006 Mumbai train bombings, calling it 'very shocking' and stating the state government would challenge it in the Supreme Court. 'The verdict of the Bombay high court is very shocking and we will challenge it in the Supreme Court,' Fadnavis told reporters. Earlier in the day, a special bench of the Bombay high court set aside the 2015 judgment of a special MCOCA court that had convicted the 12 accused, including five who were given the death penalty. The high court said the prosecution 'utterly failed' to prove its case. Also read: 2006 Mumbai train blasts: Bombay HC acquits all 12 accused; says prosecution utterly failed to prove case against them Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi reacted to the verdict by saying, 'This is very sad, instead of giving them the death penalty, they have been acquitted. This shows that the case we presented was not foolproof, it had loopholes; I believe this is the fault of the state government. The state government did not take it seriously and present a serious argument, which is why this decision has come... I hope that Maharashtra's Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is also the Chief Minister, will challenge this Court verdict. ..' BJP leader Kirit Somaiya also expressed concern over the acquittals. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Learn How To Write Faster for Work (Find Out Now) Grammarly Learn More Undo 'In these 19 years, several members of their families died, they migrated, they forgot about it. But this is a huge jolt that after 19 years, it is being said that nothing had happened. An incident did take place, it was expected of the judiciary to pronounce a punishment. But they were pronounced innocent. Does this mean that there was fraudulence in the lower court or was there issues in the 2006 investigation? But topmost legal experts will do a presentation before the Supreme Court and there will be justice,' he said. The high court, in its 671-page judgment, observed that the prosecution failed to establish the type of explosive used and found the confessional statements inadmissible due to allegations of torture. It also noted irregularities in the identification parade and found several prosecution witnesses unreliable. The High Court began its 671-page judgment by stating, 'Punishing the actual perpetrator of a crime is a concrete and essential step toward curbing criminal activities, upholding the rule of law, and ensuring the safety and security of citizens. But creating a false appearance of having solved a case — by presenting that the accused have been brought to justice — gives a misleading sense of resolution. This deceptive closure undermines public trust and falsely reassures society, while in reality, the true threat remains at this is what the case at hand conveys. ' The case involved seven blasts on Mumbai suburban trains during peak evening hours on July 11, 2006, which killed 189 and injured over 800 people. The trial court had relied heavily on confessions recorded under MCOCA provisions. The High Court found these lacked credibility and raised serious doubts about the investigation and trial process. Meanwhile, defence advocate Tahera Qureshi who represented one of the accused, says, "We are very happy with today's decision because we had been waiting for this for 19 years, especially after the sentence was imposed and 4-5 people received death sentences. I represent Zamir Sheikh, one of the accused. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, believing that he knew the incident was going to happen. Then he allegedly went abroad for training and afterwards returned to India, where he participated in inspection. .. When my client was arrested, he was 25-26 years old and came from a middle-class family. He was falsely implicated in this case..." 'Prosecution failed to establish type of bomb used' Here's what court observed: Very abnormal that witnesses could identify accused after four years Prosecution evidence not safe to base conviction Some witnesses were stock witness Witness who 'saw' bombs being assembled remained silent for 100 days, originally a suspect. Changed statement.


NDTV
42 minutes ago
- NDTV
US Bank Employee Barred From Leaving China Over Alleged Criminal Probe
Beijing confirmed Monday that an employee of US bank Wells Fargo was barred from leaving China, following reports last week that Shanghai-born managing director Chenyue Mao was under an exit ban. After multiple media reports, Wells Fargo confirmed last week that it was providing assistance to the Atlanta-based Mao, who entered China in recent weeks but is now unable to leave. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Monday that Mao was "involved in a criminal case currently being investigated by the Chinese authorities". "The Chinese law enforcement agencies have imposed exit restrictions in accordance with the law," Guo said. He did not give details of Mao's alleged offences, and Wells Fargo has not provided more information on her case. But the San Francisco-based bank is now restricting its employees from visiting China following this case, according to reports. It said in a statement to AFP on Friday that it was "closely tracking this situation and working through the appropriate channels so our employee can return to the United States as soon as possible". Wells Fargo declined to comment on China's foreign ministry saying that Mao was involved in a criminal case, when contacted by AFP. Guo said Mao "cannot leave the country while the case is ongoing, and has an obligation to cooperate with the work of investigators". He stressed that it was an "individual case" and that China would "continue as ever to welcome people from every country to travel and do business here". "No matter whether you are Chinese or not, you must follow Chinese laws while in China," he said. - Tensions and detentions - Industry groups say multinational firms have faced an increasingly difficult business environment in recent years, citing a lack of transparency on data laws and prolonged detentions of employees in the country. The trend has coincided with growing tensions between Beijing and certain Western nations, particularly the United States but also regional competitors. The Washington Post reported on Sunday, citing four unnamed sources, that an employee at the US Commerce Department was being prevented from leaving China after failing to declare on his visa application that he worked for the American government. The unnamed Chinese American man, who works for the Patent and Trademark Office, had travelled to China several months ago to visit family, the newspaper reported. Asked about the report on Monday, Guo said he was not familiar with the case. On Wednesday, a Chinese court sentenced a Japanese businessman from pharmaceutical company Astellas to three and a half years in prison for spying. Another pharma giant, UK-headquartered AstraZeneca, said in November that the head of its China operations, Leon Wang, had been detained, after reports that the firm was under investigation for potentially illegal data collection and drug imports. And in 2023, a senior executive at US risk advisory firm Kroll was prohibited from leaving China, according to the Wall Street Journal.