Brazil's Supreme Court has put former President Jair Bolsonaro under house arrest ahead of his trial for an alleged coup plot, underscoring the court's resolve despite escalating tariffs and sanctions from US President Donald Trump.
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the target of US Treasury sanctions last week, issued the arrest order against Mr Bolsonaro.
His decision cited a failure to comply with restraining orders that he had imposed on Mr Bolsonaro for allegedly courting Mr Trump's interference in the case.
Mr Bolsonaro is on trial before the Supreme Court on charges he conspired with allies to violently overturn his 2022 electoral loss to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Mr Trump has referred to the case as a "witch hunt" and called it grounds for a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods due to take effect on Wednesday.
The US State Department condemned the house arrest order, saying Mr Moraes was using Brazilian institutions to silence opposition and threaten democracy.
It added the US would "hold accountable all those aiding and abetting sanctioned conduct".
It did not provide details, but the president has said the US could still impose even higher tariffs on Brazilian imports.
The order from Mr Moraes also banned Mr Bolsonaro from using a cell phone or receiving visits, except for his lawyers and people authorised by the court.
A press representative for Mr Bolsonaro confirmed he was placed under house arrest yesterday evening at his Brasilia residence by police who seized his cell phone.
Mr Bolsonaro's lawyers said in a statement they would appeal the decision, arguing the former president had not violated any court order.
In an interview with Reuters last month, Mr Bolsonaro called Mr Moraes a "dictator" and said the restraining orders against him were acts of "cowardice".
Some Bolsonaro allies have worried that Mr Trump's tactics may be backfiring in Brazil, compounding trouble for Mr Bolsonaro and rallying public support behind Mr Lula's government.
However, Sunday demonstrations by Mr Bolsonaro's supporters – the largest in months - show that Mr Trump's tirades and sanctions against Mr Moraes have also fired up the far right former army captain's political base.
Mr Bolsonaro appeared virtually at a protest in Rio de Janeiro via phone call to his son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, in what some saw as the latest test of his restraining orders.
Judge Moraes said the former president had repeatedly made attempts to bypass the court's orders.
"Justice is blind, but not foolish," the justice wrote in his decision.
Senator Bolsonaro told CNN Brasil yesterday that the order from Mr Moraes was "a clear display of vengeance" for the US sanctions against the judge, adding: "I hope the Supreme Court can put the brakes on this person (Moraes) causing so much upheaval".
The judge's orders, including the restraining orders under penalty of arrest, have been upheld by the wider court.
Those orders and the larger case before the Supreme Court came after two years of investigations into Mr Bolsonaro's role in an election-denying movement that culminated in riots by his supporters that rocked Brasilia in January 2023.
That unrest drew comparisons to the 6 January 2021 riots at the US Capitol after Mr Trump's 2020 electoral defeat.
In contrast with the tangle of criminal cases which mostly stalled against Mr Trump, Brazilian courts moved swiftly against Mr Bolsonaro, threatening to end his political career and fracture his right-wing movement.
An electoral court has already banned Mr Bolsonaro from running for public office until 2030.
Another of Mr Bolsonaro's sons, Eduardo Bolsonaro, a Brazilian congressman, moved to the US around the same time the former president's criminal trial kicked off to drum up support for his father in Washington.
The younger Bolsonaro said the move had influenced Mr Trump's decision to impose new tariffs on Brazil.
In a statement after the arrest, Mr Bolsonaro called Mr Moraes "an out of control psychopath who never hesitates to double down".
