Brazil’s former President Bolsonaro ordered to wear electronic ankle monitor

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro has been ordered to wear an ankle monitor, his press office said on Friday.

The development came as federal police conducted searches at his home and his party’s headquarters in Brasília, according to people familiar with the court order.

Local media reported that Bolsonaro is also barred from using social media or contacting other individuals under investigation by the Supreme Federal Court, including his son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, a Brazilian lawmaker who currently lives in the United States and is known for his close ties to US President Donald Trump.

A police statement said that officers in Brasília carried out “two search and seizure warrants, in addition to precautionary measures other than arrest, in compliance with a decision by the Supreme Court.”

The statement did not name Bolsonaro.

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Bolsonaro is currently on trial at the Supreme Court accused of leading an alleged attempt to stage a coup to overturn the 2022 election in which he was defeated by left-wing president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Live aerial footage from local broadcasters showed federal police vehicles outside Bolsonaro’s residence in Brasília.

Congressman Sóstenes Cavalcante, the leader of Bolsonaro’s party in the lower house, told The Associated Press that officers also searched Bolsonaro’s office at the party’s headquarters. He described the operation as “another chapter in the persecution of conservatives and right-wing figures” in Brazil.

A lawyer for Bolsonaro did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Tuesday, Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet said in a report to the Supreme Court that the “evidence is clear: the defendant acted systematically, throughout his mandate and after his defeat at the polls, to incite insurrection and the destabilization of the democratic rule of law.”