May 1, 2024

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Former Brazilian President Bolsonaro's passport was confiscated as part of the coup investigation

Former Brazilian President Bolsonaro's passport was confiscated as part of the coup investigation

  • Written by Vanessa Buchschlotter
  • BBC News

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Federal police searched several homes and buildings as part of their investigation

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been given 24 hours to surrender his passport amid an ongoing investigation into the 2023 storming of Brazil's Congress by his supporters.

The former president's lawyer said Bolsonaro would comply with the order authorized by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

Bolsonaro was in the United States when the attack on Congress occurred.

He has said in the past that he has been the target of a legal pursuit.

In March 2023, two months after the storming of Congress, the former president returned to Brazil, where he faces a number of investigations.

In June, he was banned from running for president for eight years for raising unfounded doubts about Brazil's electronic voting system.

But greater interest was in the investigation into the events of January 8, 2023, when his supporters – angry that he narrowly lost the election to his leftist rival – stormed Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace in Brasilia.

Brazilian federal police provided only limited details but said they were carrying out an operation on Thursday targeting a “criminal organization involved in the coup attempt.”

She added that as part of that operation, she searched dozens of buildings and executed four arrest warrants, without mentioning the names of the detainees.

Local media reported that two of Bolsonaro's former advisers, Felipe Martinez and Marcelo Camara, were among those arrested.

Over the past year, more than 1,400 people have been charged over their alleged role in the riots, but so far only a few dozen have been convicted.

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