The Supreme Court of Brazil (STF) has suspended Senator and presidential pre-candidate Flávio Bolsonaro’s visitation rights to his father, Jair Bolsonaro, for 90 days. The former president is currently serving a house arrest sentence in Brasília.
The ruling, issued by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, comes after Flávio Bolsonaro read a letter from his father on social media on Saturday, in which Jair Bolsonaro publicly declared his support for his son’s campaign in the upcoming October general elections.
Justice Moraes wrote that when Jair Bolsonaro was granted humanitarian house arrest in March, the court explicitly banned him from using social media either directly or through third parties. Moraes determined that Flávio violated this court order, utilizing his visitation rights with the sole purpose of circumventing the ban to broadcast his father’s political message.
According to the ruling, the irregular conduct of Flávio Bolsonaro actively bypassed a judicial restriction. Furthermore, Moraes noted that releasing a video containing statements equivalent to an explicit request for votes during this period may constitute illegal campaign advertising under Brazilian election laws.
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The STF justice ordered the Electoral Public Ministry to investigate whether election laws were breached.
Moraes also gave Jair Bolsonaro 48 hours to clarify whether he knew his son planned to broadcast the letter online. In the text read by Flávio, the former president referred to his son as his “spokesperson” and urged supporters to set aside differences to back Flávio’s candidacy.
This is not the first time Flávio Bolsonaro has violated these court restrictions. Justice Moraes highlighted that the senator is a repeat offender, noting a previous violation in August of last year when he called his father during a political rally and broadcasted the phone conversation live on social media.
This 90-day visitation ban will lock Flávio out from seeing his father until mid-October, heavily impacting his campaign by keeping him separated from Jair Bolsonaro until after the first round of the presidential election. Jair Bolsonaro is currently serving a sentence of 27 years and three months for attempted coup d’état and criminal association.
