“Brazilian court has banned ex-president Bolsonaro from traveling to Trump’s inauguration January 16, 19:31 Share: Jair Bolsonaro (Photo: REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli) Brazil’s Supreme Court has banned former president Jair Bolsonaro from leaving the country for Donald Trump’s inauguration, which will take place in Washington on January 20. This was reported by Bloomberg on Thursday, January 16. Judge Alexandre de Moraes, on the recommendation of the General Prosecutor’s Office, rejected the request to return Jair Bolsonaro’s passport. It”, — write on: ua.news
Jair Bolsonaro (Photo: REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli)
The Supreme Court of Brazil has banned former President Jair Bolsonaro from leaving the country for the inauguration of Donald Trump, which will take place in Washington on January 20.
This was reported by Bloomberg on Thursday, January 16.
Judge Alexandre de Moraes, on the recommendation of the General Prosecutor’s Office, rejected the request to return Jair Bolsonaro’s passport. This decision, as stated in the released court document, is related to the investigation of the coup attempt by supporters of the ex-president. Bolsonaro’s passport was confiscated by the police back in February 2024.
On January 8, Bolsonaro announced that he had received an invitation to the inauguration of Donald Trump, and in a video message on the X platform, he expressed his satisfaction with the invitation.
“I will represent the conservatives, the right-wing, the good, the Brazilian people in the United States, God willing,” he said.
A judge rejected Bolsonaro’s request to attend Trump’s inauguration, requiring confirmation of the invitation. Bolsonaro’s lawyers provided the Supreme Court with a copy of an email addressed to the ex-president’s son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, but the letter did not contain information about the program of the event. Bolsonaro’s press secretary declined to provide Bloomberg News with a copy of the invitation itself.
Attorney General Paulo Gonet said there was no evidence in the request filed by Bolsonaro’s lawyers that the trip “may constitute a vital interest” which may prevail “public interest, which opposes the applicant’s departure from the country.”
The case against Bolsonaro – what is known
Bolsonaro lost power at the end of 2022 after his rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won the presidential election. He now faces a series of criminal investigations into allegations that he falsified Covid vaccination records, tried to extort expensive foreign gifts and, most seriously, plotted to topple his successor’s government.
Surveillance video obtained by the New York Times shows that in early February — four days after two of Bolsonaro’s aides were arrested on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the Brazilian government — he holed up in the embassy, a few minutes’ drive from the presidential palace, which Bolsonaro once occupied.
A New York Times story said Bolsonaro’s stay at the embassy appeared to suggest he was trying to use his friendship with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to circumvent the Brazilian justice system as he faces a criminal investigation at home.
The former president’s lawyers stated that he was in the embassy “to maintain contact with the authorities of a friendly country.”