OAN Staff Abril Elfi
12:45 PM – Friday, July 18, 2025
Brazilian authorities have ordered former President Jair Bolsonaro to wear an ankle monitor, following a raid operation at his residence.
On Friday, local police raided Bolsonaro’s home and later ordered him to wear an electronic ankle tag. The former president has now also been banned him from speaking to foreign officials or approaching embassies, in addition to prohibiting him from using any social media platforms.
These measures stem from rulings issued by the Supreme Federal Court (STF), led by Justice Alexandre de Moraes. On July 18, 2025, Moraes and a five-judge STF panel issued search warrants, restraining orders, and precautionary measures against Bolsonaro, including:
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- A ban on contacting foreign officials or diplomats
- Prohibition from approaching embassies
- A requirement to wear an ankle monitor
- A ban on using any social media platforms
The court cited a “concrete possibility” of Bolsonaro fleeing the country, given his alleged efforts to “solicit foreign interference” to influence Brazil’s judiciary—a violation of national sovereignty
Bolsonaro is under investigation for allegedly plotting a coup to prevent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from assuming office in January 2023. The court deemed his alleged lobbying of foreign entities to influence domestic judicial proceedings as an attack on democratic institutions and grounds for limiting communications and travel.
Nonetheless, Bolsonaro has denied the misconduct.
According to court documents, federal police have accused Bolsonaro and his son, Eduardo, of plotting with the U.S. government to inflict penalties on Brazilian officials. The court stated that the conduct “would directly benefit his father and financier, Jair Messias Bolsonaro.”
Brazilian and American outlets have reported that federal agents also seized an “unidentified” sum of U.S. dollars in his possession. However, the former president says that it was around $14,000. Authorities seized “about 14,000 U.S. dollars” of Bolsonaro’s, despite the former president arguing that the money was for personal use — noting he had the receipts to prove it.
Bolsonaro also referred to the forced ankle monitor as a “supreme humiliation,” while emphasizing that he “never thought of leaving Brazil.”
“The suspicions (of me leaving the country) are an exaggeration… damn it, I’m a former president of the republic – I’m 70 years old,” he said.
Meanwhile, on Friday, President Donald Trump posted a letter to Bolsonaro on Truth Social, in which he suggested that the Brazilian former leader was the victim of an “unjust system” that Trump would be “watching closely.”
Bolsonaro later posted a video on X, thanking Trump for his ongoing support while expressing his “eternal gratitude,” in an attached video.
Bolsonaro had previously appeared to be preparing for the outcome of his trial and dismissed the idea that he might be considered a flight risk, saying: “I’ll face the process.”
Bolsonaro may face more than four decades in prison if convicted of masterminding the alleged political coup. He could face “between 38 and 43 years in prison.”
Bolsonaro is one of 34 people charged with five offenses, including attempting the alleged coup. Prosecutors claim that part of the coup conspiracy included a plan to “assassinate current Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, his vice president, and a Supreme Court minister.”
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