Brazil’s Supreme Court on Thursday rejected former President Jair Bolsonaro’s request to temporarily reinstate his passport so he can attend US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington next week. Can join.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes, whom Bolsonaro has often called his personal enemy, said in the ruling that Bolsonaro does not currently hold a position that would allow him to represent Brazil at the event and that the former president had not adequately represented Brazil in court. It did not formally prove that he was. Invited.
How Brazilian police say Bolsonaro plotted a coup to stay in office
Under wide-ranging investigation, including an alleged attempt to remain in office despite an election defeat, Bolsonaro’s passport was seized by federal police last February because he was considered a flight risk. He denies the allegations against him.
Bolsonaro responded to the verdict on Thursday by accusing Brazil’s judicial system of political persecution against him and comparing his situation to the legal cases in the US against Trump. He said Trump “got over judicial activism. I’ll get over it, too.”
The former Brazilian president had requested permission to leave the country from January 17 to 22 to attend the inauguration ceremony on January 20 and the Hispanic inauguration ceremony. Bolsonaro, a vocal admirer of Trump, said on his social media channels on January 8 that he was “very pleased with this invitation.”
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro speaks during an event to launch a new register for professional workers in the fishing industry at the Planalto Government Palace in Brasília, Brazil, on June 29, 2021. (Andressa Anholt/Getty Images)
Bolsonaro said, “I will represent the conservative, the right-wing, the good, the Brazilian people in the United States, God willing.”
When De Moraes asked Bolsonaro’s lawyers for proof of his invitation on Saturday, he sent an invitation letter signed by inaugural committee co-chairs Steve Witkoff and Kelly Loeffler.
Nevertheless, de Moraes argued that Bolsonaro had not sufficiently proven that he was invited to the inauguration. In the decision, de Moraes followed the recommendation of Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet, who said on Wednesday that the private interest in Bolsonaro’s travel does not outweigh the public interest in banning him from traveling abroad.
De Moraes said Bolsonaro remains a flight risk and the former president has advocated that his supporters who face legal troubles over their political allegiance should leave the country and seek asylum. Hundreds of Bolsonaro supporters involved in riots in the capital Brasília on January 8, 2023 have left Brazil to avoid prosecution.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will not attend Trump’s inauguration.
Federal police seized Bolsonaro’s passport in February 2024, during a raid related to an investigation into whether he and his top aides were plotting to ignore the 2022 election results and stage an insurrection to keep the defeated right-wing leader in power. A conspiracy was hatched.
Brazil’s Supreme Court had previously rejected Bolsonaro’s request to reclaim his passport in March 2024, following an invitation from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Last November, federal police formally charged Bolsonaro and 36 other people, including high-ranking military officers, with attempted coup. Prosecutor-General Gonet will decide whether to charge Bolsonaro or drop the investigation.
Legal experts believe Bolsonaro could be charged and tried in the Supreme Court in the second half of 2025 for falsifying his COVID-19 vaccination status. Analysts also say there is a reasonable possibility that he will be prosecuted before 2026 over alleged embezzlement of jewels gifted to him by Saudi Arabian officials.
The former president denies that he sought to remain in office in 2022 after suffering a narrow election defeat to his leftist rival Lula.
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Brazil’s Ambassador to the United States, Maria Luiza Viotti, will attend Trump’s inauguration, the government told The Associated Press on Thursday. President Lula was not officially invited to the ceremony.
Trump has invited some global leaders to his inauguration ceremony, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Argentine President Javier Milla.
