Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro given ankle monitor for alleged coup attempt
July 18 (UPI) -- Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was ordered by his country's supreme court to wear an ankle monitor, stay home most hours and to stay away from foreign embassies.
He is considered a flight risk after he and his son lobbied President Donald Trump to help him with his legal troubles.
Bolsonaro faces prison time for charges that he attempted a coup after he lost the 2022 election.
Brazilian police now accuse Bolsonaro of working with his son, Brazilian lawmaker Eduardo, to lobby the Trump administration in Washington, D.C., and ask the president to impose sanctions on Brazil. The court told Bolsonaro to cease all communication with Eduardo and stay off social media.
Trump has threatened a 50% tariff on Brazilian exports starting Aug. 1, if they don't end what he calls a "which hunt" against Bolsonaro.
Brazil president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Brazil will not cede to an American president, whom he says wants to be an "emperor."
Thursday night, Trump posted online that police should drop the charges against Bolsonaro. This morning, police raided Bolsonaro's home and office.
In a statement, Bolsonaro's legal team said it was "surprised and outraged" by the new precautionary measures "despite the fact that he has always complied with all the orders of the judiciary."
Bolsonaro's lawyers expressed "surprise and indignation" at what they called "severe precautionary measures imposed against him."
The court didn't agree.
"An attempt to subject the functioning of the federal Supreme Court to the scrutiny of another state constitutes an attack on national sovereignty," Justice Alexandre de Moraes said in his order.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Bolsonaro called the ankle monitor the "ultimate humiliation." He said he "never thought of fleeing" Brazil. He repeated that the case against him is a politically motivated effort to remove him from the 2026 election. The New York Times reports that some polls suggest he could narrowly win if eligible.
Last week on Truth Social, Trump said 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," he wrote.
Brazilian Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet released a 517-page document on Monday that called for Bolsonaro to be convicted for his alleged crimes. Bolsonaro could spend decades in prison.
"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 document.
While Trump has maintained a close friendship with Bolsonaro, Brazil and the Lula administration don't speak highly of Trump.
On Thursday Lula said Trump's tariff threat lacked logic.
"We cannot have President Trump forgetting that he was elected to govern the U.S., not to be the emperor of the world," he said.
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