Brazil court orders house arrest for 10 convicted in Bolsonaro coup attempt News
Cayambe, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Brazil court orders house arrest for 10 convicted in Bolsonaro coup attempt

A Brazilian Supreme Court judge on Saturday sentenced 10 individuals to house arrest for plotting to keep former president Jair Bolsonaro in power following his defeat in the 2022 election.

The decision, issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, came shortly after Paraguayan authorities arrested a former senior police official linked to the case. The official attempted to board a flight to El Salvador using a forged Paraguayan passport, pointing to continued efforts by figures connected to the plot to evade justice.

The 10 individuals placed under house arrest had previously remained free during appeal, despite their conviction. Until now, they had been subject to precautionary measures such as electronic monitoring or nightly location requirements rather than incarceration.

Justice de Moraes stated that the group played an active role in planning the attempted coup, contriving legal justification for overturning the election outcome, and disseminating disinformation on social media to keep Bolsonaro in power. The sentences, he held, were necessary to prevent further obstruction of justice and to ensure compliance with court orders.

In August, former president Jair Bolsonaro was placed under house arrest after Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled that he violated precautionary measures imposed during his trial for plotting a coup plot to overturn the 2022 election. Justice de Moraes found that Bolsonaro breached restrictions by continuing to spread political content through his three lawmaker sons, despite being barred from doing so while under investigation. As a result, the court replaced his earlier conditions with full house arrest while the broader case continued.

In September, the Supreme Court convicted Bolsonaro, but he remained under house arrest while awaiting the start of a 27-year sentence. In November, he was ordered immediately imprisoned after apparently attempting to remove the monitoring bracelet around his angle, in what was portrayed as a plot to flee the country. He is currently hospitalized following a health emergency.

Following Bolsonaro’s sentencing in September, the US State Department placed personal sanctions on Justice de Moraes and those closely connected to him. President Donald Trump and his administration have been critical of the justice and supportive of Bolsonaro, claiming judicial proceedings related to the attempted coup constitute political persecution.

Among those affected by the ruling is Filipe Martins, a former adviser to Bolsonaro. His lawyer, Jeffrey Chiquini, said on X that the defense will appeal the decision and “that this is not a mere mistake: the proper term is authoritarianism!”

The case forms part of a broader judicial effort to address attempts to undermine Brazil’s democratic institutions following the 2022 election. The arrests and house arrest orders highlight the Supreme Court’s increasingly assertive role as it investigates networks accused of playing a role in efforts to overturn the electoral result.

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