Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro said Monday that Federal Police had ordered him to hand over his passports and that he had been barred from leaving Brazil under a decision by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
In a video posted on his official Instagram account, Bolsonaro said officers approached him as he left a visit to his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro.
“I was ordered to hand over my passports and I am also prohibited from leaving the country,” he said in Portuguese.
Senator says he will surrender the documents
Bolsonaro said he had never planned to leave Brazil and would hand over the passports while defending himself against the decision. He called the restriction an attempt to intimidate him.
His account places the order on Sunday night, after the announcement of the presidential election result. Bolsonaro said the decision referred to an October 23 remark by his brother Eduardo that he should leave the country if he lost. The senator denied having made such a statement himself.
Those descriptions of the order and its basis are Bolsonaro’s account. The text of the court decision was not publicly available for this report.
Election challenge remains separate
In the same statement, Bolsonaro said he would seek to overturn President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s winning ticket, alleging abuses during the election. His allegations do not establish that wrongdoing occurred or that the election result has been invalidated.
He also said he would meet elected senators and deputies to organize the opposition in Congress.
JBizNews Desk | Brasilia
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