BRASÍLIA, Dec 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Brazil’s Supreme Court on Saturday ordered house arrest for 10 officials in the government of former president Jair Bolsonaro for participation in an attempted coup, police said.
The 10 helped plan the coup plot, sought legal justification for it, or spread disinformation on social media, according to the Supreme Court.
In addition to being placed under house arrest, the individuals were banned from receiving visits, using social media or contacting others currently under investigation, and were required to surrender their passports and firearm permits, a Federal Police statement said.
Although they had already been convicted, the 10 remained at large pending appeals. The statement did not name the individuals affected by the court order.
Bolsonaro’s former advisor on international affairs, Filipe Garcia Martins, was among those arrested on Saturday, according to his defense team.
“Filipe Martins had been wearing an electronic ankle monitor until today and wasn’t allowed to leave his city,” his lawyer, Jeffrey Chiquini, said in a video posted on Instagram.
Silvinei Vasques, another of those convicted in the coup plot, was detained in Paraguay Friday while allegedly attempting to board a flight with false papers.
Paraguayan authorities expelled him and handed him over to the Brazilian police.
The Supreme Court, which sentenced him to 24 years and six months in prison in this case, ordered that Vasques be placed in pretrial detention.
In September, the court found Bolsonaro guilty of conspiring to stay in power after losing the 2022 election to leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and handed him a 27-year prison sentence.
Another former official convicted in the case is former intelligence chief Alexandre Ramagem, who fled to the United States.
The coup failed due to a lack of support from top military brass. The far-right ex-president has claimed his innocence, claiming he was being persecuted by the Supreme Court. — NNN-AGENCIES