MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolsonaro under full-time surveillance

The tracking device can be tampered with, De Moraes was advised

Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Alexandre De Moraes acquiesced to a suggestion from security authorities and allowed the Federal District's criminal police to monitor former President Jair Bolsonaro's home around the clock. Despite the electronic tracing anklet, the rightwing leader posed a flight risk, De Moraes was advised.

The judge's decision followed a favorable opinion from the Attorney General's Office (PGR) on Monday and was issued just days before Bolsonaro's conspiracy trial, scheduled to begin on September 2. Although it did not mention any flight risk, PGR mentioned that “it is advisable to recommend” increased preventive policing. The initial request for full-time surveillance came from Federal Deputy Lindbergh Farias (PT-RJ) to Federal Police (PF) Director General Andrei Rodrigues.

The PF noted that the device's reliance on a phone signal made it vulnerable to failures or deliberate interference, which could delay the detection of any violations.

The monitoring of the former president should be carried out by Criminal Police teams “without undue exposure,” Agencia Brasil reported.

“The monitoring carried out by the Federal District Criminal Police teams should avoid undue exposure, refraining from any indiscretion, including media coverage, without adopting measures that are intrusive to the defendant's home or disruptive to the neighborhood; it is at their discretion whether or not to use uniforms and the respective weapons necessary to execute the order,” De Moraes ruled.

In his decision, De Moraes cited the document requesting political asylum in Argentina found on Bolsonaro's cell phone in the context of investigations into the United States' tariffs against Brazil. The document had been saved on the device since 2024.

“Thus, considering the proximity of the trial on the merits of AP 2.668/DF [coup complaint] and the well-founded nature of the precautionary measures decreed, it is appropriate and necessary to monitor the defendant and suspect Jair Messias Bolsonaro,” added the judge.

De Moraes argued that monitoring Bolsonaro was necessary to ensure compliance with precautionary measures imposed on the former president, such as the anklet and a ban on approaching diplomatic missions, where he could request political asylum.

The Federal Police's “statement reporting the renewed risk of Jair Messias Bolsonaro fleeing, reveals that the requested monitoring measures are absolutely necessary and appropriate, without any aggravation of the defendant's situation,” De Moraes further explained.

The 70-year-old former president (2019-2022) is accused of leading a “criminal organization” that conspired to prevent the leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from taking office. On De Moraes' orders, Bolsonaro has been under preventive house arrest since early August for violating a ban on posting on social media.

Bolsonaro has been known to have considered seeking political asylum in 2024 from Argentine President Javier Milei, citing “political persecution in Brazil.” His defense accused the police of seeking to “demoralize him.” In addition, lawyer Paulo Cunha Bueno called the police's request an “unnecessary embarrassment.”