The lawyer for Rumble and Trump Media, Martin de Luca, stated that the preventive detention of Jair Bolsonaro, ordered this Saturday morning (22), by the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Alexandre de Moraes is a “gratuitous insult to Trump and Marco Rubio”, the American Secretary of State.
“In Brazil, preventive detention requires concrete evidence of a risk of flight, objective acts of obstruction and a finding that no less drastic measures would be effective. Moraes did not present any. He simply described a hypothetical escape plan based on geography, speculation and fear of a peaceful crowd,” Martin published in X.
In his post, he cites the reasons alleged by the Supreme Court minister to justify the preventive detention, which involve a “violation of the electronic ankle monitor”, which Martin says is not specified, without evidence or explanations; “a peaceful vigil in front of his house”; “and — unbelievably — the fact that Bolsonaro lives 13 km from the US Embassy.”
“Yes. Moraes literally argued that, as Bolsonaro lives a short drive from the American embassy, he could try to flee there. As if the United States, which sanctioned Moraes for human rights violations, were going to smuggle him out of Brazil,” says the lawyer.
The jurist also points out that Moraes’ decision comes “one day after the US extended an olive branch in relation to tariffs. The moment chosen is an act of defiance”.
“Regardless of whether you support Bolsonaro or not, arresting a former president based on the distance he travels by car to the US embassy is not the rule of law”, points out the American president’s lawyer.
“It’s bad faith. It’s politics. And it’s an extraordinary display of disrespect toward the Trump administration, which acted in good faith just hours before,” he added.
Prison
Preventively arrested by the PF by order of Moraes, Bolsonaro was taken to the Federal Police Superintendency in Brasília at around 6:35 am.
This is not the beginning of the sentence for a coup d’état. The alleged reason for the arrest was the “guarantee of public order” due to the organization of a vigil called to take place near the condominium where Bolsonaro lives.
According to Moraes, the Integrated Monitoring Integration Center of the Federal District informed the Supreme Court of an alleged attempt to violate the electronic ankle bracelet at 08:00 this Saturday.
For the minister, there was an intention to break the equipment to “guarantee success in his escape, facilitated by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his son”.
He suggests that Bolsonaro would try to take refuge in the United States embassy, located about 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro’s condominium, a 15-minute drive away.
“In the case of Jair Messias Bolsonaro, his recent conviction in the files of AP 2.668/DF and the proximity of the final judgment of the conviction, as well as the new information brought to the files in the sense of calling supporters to a ‘vigil’ in the defendant’s residential condominium, indicate a high possibility of an escape attempt, which, in terms of the peaceful jurisprudence of this Supreme Court, authorizes the decree of preventive detention”, stated the minister.
