Bolsonaro Son Charged with 'Coercion' in Brazil Coup Trial

Brazil’s chief prosecutor has charged a son of Jair Bolsonaro, the former president, with interfering in his father’s coup trial, accusing him of directly lobbying the United States to impose sanctions in an attempt to coerce the process.

Eduardo Bolsonaro, 41, a congressman currently living in the United States, “repeatedly sought to subordinate the interests of Brazil and the entire society to his own personal and family agenda,” the prosecutor general’s office said in a statement.

In July, Trump announced a 50 per cent tariff on Brazilian imported goods, directly linking that decision to the prosecution of Bolsonaro. Washington has since sanctioned Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the head of the Brazilian supreme court, which tried the case, alleging he oversaw “politicised prosecutions”. Visa restrictions have also been imposed on several other supreme court judges.

Brazilian prosecutors claim the US strategy was all instigated by Eduardo Bolsonaro, who moved with his family to Washington DC in February. The congressman “did not hesitate to claim to be the determining inspiration for the economic sanctions that were, as is well known, ultimately imposed by the US government”, said the prosecutor general’s office in a statement.

He is charged alongside the prominent blogger Paulo Renato Figueiredo Filho, a grandson of the last general to rule Brazil, during its 1964-1985 dictatorship. Prosecutors alleged both men “announced the sanctions in advance, celebrated when they were imposed, and designated them as a harbinger of more, if the supreme court did not relent”.