Brazil’s Supreme Court refuses to return Jair Bolsonaro’s passport

Judge Alexandre de Moraes, rapporteur at the Federal Supreme Court (FSC) investigation into Jair Bolsonaro over the coup attempt, has refused to return the passport seized from the former president. The document was seized by the Federal Police (FP) on February 8 during a search and seizure at the former ruler’s beach house, during which four of his advisers were arrested.

Alexandre de Moraes said the measures taken in February, including retaining the passport and banning travel from Brazil, “remain necessary and appropriate.” Bolsonaro’s lawyers are insisting for the second time on the return of his passport, arguing that the former head of state was invited to visit Israel by Prime Minister and ally of this country Benjamin Netanyahu.

In the decision to refuse return, the judge referred to the opinion of the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGR), also directed against return. According to PGR, the return of Jair Bolsonaro’s passport and his departure from Brazil would pose a “danger to the development of the current investigation.”

This week, a report in the American newspaper New York Times revealed that following the confiscation of his passport, Bolsonaro took refuge in the Hungarian embassy in Brasilia, where he remained from February 12 to 14, fueling speculation that, with the situation worsening given his legal situation, he will try to flee the country.

The former president’s stay in the embassy of a European country run by his ally and fellow right-winger Viktor Orbán itself constitutes a violation of the STF ban on leaving Brazil, since the diplomatic mission is considered foreign territory, and this situation has led to the opening of a new investigation, which not completed.