The morning after the incumbent president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was re-elected in Brazil, federal police turned up outside a house where the defeated candidate, Flávio Bolsonaro, was visiting.
The house belongs to Jair Bolsonaro, Flávio’s father. He has been sentenced to serve more than 27 years in prison here.
Bolsonaro junior explains in a video post that the police stopped him ‘in the middle of the road’ outside his father’s house, where he was served with an order confiscating his passport and diplomatic passport, as well as a travel ban.
The order was issued by Brazil’s ‘strongman’, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the same judge who presided over the trial against his father.
When Bolsonaro’s term as a member of Congress expires in January 2027, he will lose his legal immunity and may face criminal prosecution. A federal investigation into him is already underway, concerning the alleged laundering of billions through illegal gambling companies. It is also alleged that Bolsonaro Junior is implicated in the Banco Master scandal, which involves a number of well-known figures in Brazil, including Alexandre de Moraes himself and his wife.
Flávio Bolsonaro says in a video on X that the ruling is based on an interview with his brother, Eduardo, who lives in Florida and urged him to leave Brazil if he lost the election.
– I myself have never said this. “Is this really grounds for confiscating my passport?” asks Flávio in the post. He explains that the decision was taken as early as Sunday evening, as soon as the election result was clear.
– Just imagine if I’d won the election – would the same thing have happened? This is a political decision taken in response to an election result, and a sign that our democracy has failed, says Flávio Bolsonaro in the video.
Lula threatened Bolsonaro with prosecution during the TV debate just before the election. The ruling also orders Bolsonaro to have no contact with his friend Willer Tomaz, a lawyer with alleged links to the illegal gambling companies which the police believe have been used for money laundering.
Brazil’s strongman intervenes in the presidential election campaign
