Gonet defended maintaining Bolsonaro’s passport withheld by the courts due to investigations into the coup plot following the election of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2022. “The measure to retain the passport is intended to prevent the applicant from leaving the country and it is also intended to satisfy any eventual criminal investigation and application of criminal law,” Gonet stated.

The prosecutor specified that the caution is based on reasons of public order, in the context of criminal investigations.

The seizure of Bolsonaro’s passport, on February 2024, responds to investigations related to the January 8, 2023 coup attacks against the headquarters of the Three Powers in Brasilia.

In addition to being ineligible until 2030, according to the decision of the Superior Electoral Court, Bolsonaro faces a series of investigations after being accused by the Federal Police in cases involving jewelry and the falsification of COVID-19 vaccination certificates. The investigations also cover his alleged participation in coup attempts and the violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law.

If Bolsonaro is prosecuted and convicted, he could face sentences totaling up to 23 years in prison, and a possible ineligibility that could extend for more than three decades.

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