Moraes authorizes family visits to Bolsonaro during house arrest.
Supreme Court Justice authorizes entry of former president's children, grandchildren, and sisters-in-law without prior notice, but maintains restrictions such as the ban on cell phones.
Felipe Pontes - Reporter for Agência Brasil - Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), authorized this Wednesday (6) that former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest, receive visits from family members without the need for prior authorization.
The decision covers Bolsonaro's "children, sisters-in-law, granddaughters and grandsons." The minister wrote that the visits can occur "without the need for prior notice, in compliance with previously established legal and judicial determinations."
Bolsonaro has been placed under house arrest since the evening of last Monday (4), by order of Moraes. On that occasion, there was a new seizure of the former president's cell phones, who has already had several devices taken by investigators.
In ordering the arrest, Moraes had restricted visits to lawyers only. Furthermore, he prohibited Bolsonaro from using cell phones, including those belonging to third parties.
In Monday's decision, the minister stated that Bolsonaro continues to "ignore and disrespect" the Supreme Court, having "deliberately" violated precautionary measures that had been determined previously, such as the order not to use social media, on his own profiles or those of third parties.
"Justice will not allow a defendant to make a fool of it, thinking that he will go unpunished because he has political and economic power," the minister wrote at the time.
Moraes attached social media posts from the former president's sons last Sunday (3), in which Bolsonaro appears greeting demonstrators who took to the streets that day to defend a broad amnesty for those involved in an alleged Bolsonaro coup plot.
On Tuesday (5), Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) said that the publication on his profile was made on his initiative, without the participation of his father, who would not have violated the ban on the use of social networks.
Bolsonaro's defense team said they were "taken by surprise" by the decree of house arrest. The former president's legal team is preparing an appeal against the measure, which should be analyzed by the First Panel of the Supreme Court, composed of five ministers - in addition to Moraes himself, Cristiano Zanin, Luiz Fux, Cármen Lúcia and Flávio Dino.
Resource - Behind the scenes, a group of Supreme Court justices has expressed dissatisfaction with Bolsonaro's house arrest, seeing the measure as an unnecessary escalation of tensions in light of a possible conviction of the former president in the criminal case related to the coup plot later this year.
This same wing, however, believes it is unlikely that the arrest will be reversed by the First Chamber, which would be seen as a capitulation to pressure from the President of the United States, Donald Trump.
Mentioning Bolsonaro's case, the US government announced sanctions against Moraes and other Supreme Court ministers. In parallel, also citing what would be a "witch hunt" against the former Brazilian president, Trump imposed a 50% tariff on some Brazilian products, a measure that came into effect this Wednesday (6).
