Brazil: defeated Flávio Bolsonaro ordered to surrender passports

Flávio Bolsonaro faz declaração em Brasília após perder a segunda volta presidencial para Lula no domingo. Fotografia: Xinhua/Shutterstock. Ver imagem em tela cheia.

Photograph: Xinhua/ShutterstockBrazilBrazil: defeated Flávio Bolsonaro ordered to surrender passportsFar-right senator banned from leaving country as supreme court judge’s ruling makes reference to money-laundering case.

Prefira o Guardian no Google. O senador de extrema-direita Flávio Bolsonaro foi proibido de deixar o Brasil e ordenado a entregar seus passaportes apenas horas depois de sua dramática derrota na eleição presidencial para o presidente de esquerda Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

The ruling was issued by supreme court justice Alexandre de Moraes, the same justice who oversaw the trial of the senator’s father, the former president Jair Bolsonaro, for attempting a coup.

Bolsonaro posted a video saying the decision was based on an interview his brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro, gave last Friday urging his brother to leave Brazil if he lost the election.

On Monday night, Bolsonaro’s party issued a statement acknowledging the election result, saying: “We recognise the presidential result proclaimed by the electoral court, but believe that the questions raised need to be properly clarified through a balanced and democratic political debate.”.

Bolsonaro, como seu pai há quatro anos, ainda não reconheceu a derrota para Lula.

Read moreThe court’s brief ruling regarding his passport only refers to a criminal case in which the federal police are investigating Flávio Bolsonaro over his possible involvement in a money-laundering scheme.

A decisão ordena que ele não tenha qualquer contato com seu amigo Willer Tomaz, um advogado ligado a empresas de apostas que a polícia suspeita terem sido usadas para lavar cerca de £680 milhões.

It also cancelled all of Bolsonaro’s passports, including the diplomatic one he holds as a congressman, and ordered him to hand them over within 24 hours.

Bolsonaro was the first to speak publicly about the matter, before Brazilian media were even aware of the judge’s decision.

Em um vídeo publicado nas redes sociais, ele disse que acabara de deixar uma visita ao seu pai, que está sob prisão domiciliar em Brasília, quando “a polícia federal de Lula estava na porta dele e no meio da rua, e eu fui servido com uma ordem para entregar meus passaportes e também estou proibido de deixar o país”.

He added that, although his brother – who is in self-imposed exile in the US – told a US podcast on Friday that he favoured the senator leaving Brazil if he lost the election, “I never said that”.

2:54How students and social media delivered Lula a historic comeback in Brazil – videoWhen his Senate term ends early next year, Bolsonaro will be out of public office for the first time in 24 years, and therefore without the special jurisdiction afforded to officeholders.

He is under investigation in another criminal case, too, over what happened to the £20m he was captured on tape asking a disgraced banker accused of corruption to provide for a biopic about his father.

O jornal Folha de S. Paulo informou que Flávio Bolsonaro foi persuadido a abandonar seu plano de buscar anular a eleição, que ele havia anunciado após o resultado ter sido declarado na noite de domingo.

Bolsonaro had claimed that the two-hour extension of voting – intended to allow voters who had been unable to access the mandatory free public transport to cast their ballots – had harmed the election, despite the fact that his own campaign had also argued for an extension.

According to the newspaper, allies and lawyers told him his argument was legally weak.

Bolsonaro had still not publicly reversed his demand for an annulment, and in the same video he said he would file another case to have Lula’s ticket disqualified over alleged abuse of economic power, a similar case to others his legal team brought during the campaign.

Em números

• Igado a empresas de apostas que a polícia suspeita terem sido usadas para lavar cerca de £680 milhões