Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro Is Detained By House Detainees

JAKARTA - Brazilian authorities put former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial on charges of planning a coup, under house arrest on Monday, a move that could escalate tensions with United States President Donald Trump's administration.

Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes issued the arrest order, stating in his decision that the fiery far-right figure did not comply with a judicial detention order handed down to him last month.

Bolsonaro faces charges of conspiracy with his allies to cancel his defeat in the 2022 general election to President Luiz In Goodycio Lula da Silva.

Moraes also barred Bolsonaro from receiving visits, except for lawyers and people authorized by the court, as well as direct and third-party use of cell phones.

A Bolsonaro press representative confirmed he was placed under house arrest on Monday afternoon and a cell phone had been seized.

In a statement, the Brazilian federal police stated that they had complied with the Supreme Court's order to implement house arrests and confiscate cell phones, although they did not specify the target of the operation.

The restrictions on Bolsonaro were imposed on charges he prompted Trump's intervention, which recently attributed a new high tariff over Brazil's belongings to what he called the "witch hunt" against Bolsonaro, his ideological ally.

The house arrest order follows a more than two-year investigation into Bolsonaro's role in the election rejection movement culminating in riots by his supporters who rocked Brasilia in January 2023. The riots were compared to riots at the US Capitol Building following Trump's defeat in elections in 2020.

In an interview with Reuters last month, Bolsonaro called Moraes a "dictator" and said restrictive measures against him were "cutting."

In contrast to the large number of criminal cases that were largely stopped against Trump, Brazilian courts and investigators moved quickly against Bolsonaro, threatening to end his political career and destroy his right wing movement.

Bolsonaro's son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, a Brazilian congressman, moved to the US around the same time the former president's trial began to garner support for his father in Washington. Eduardo said the move had affected Trump's decision to impose a new tariff on Brazil.

Last month, Trump shared a letter he sent to Bolsonaro. "I've seen the bad treatment you receive from an unfair system that turns against you," he wrote.

"This trial must end immediately!"

In late July, Washington imposed sanctions on Moraes, accusing the judge of allowing arbitrary pretrial detention and suppressing freedom of expression.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Bolsonaro's house arrest.

However, Trump's tactics may backfire in Brazil, exacerbate the problem for Bolsonaro and garner public support behind President Lula's administration.