Federal Police search Bolsonaro’s home for guns

Brazil’s Federal Police carried out a search warrant at former President Jair Bolsonaro’s home on Wednesday (8), authorized by Supreme Court (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes to determine whether Bolsonaro still had firearms on the property, where he’s serving house arrest following his conviction for attempting a coup. Moraes said there were discrepancies between the number of firearms legally registered under the former president’s name and the number actually turned in—a gap that could amount to a violation of a court order. Last week, Moraes had ordered Bolsonaro to hand over 11 registered firearms identified during the investigation. “The convict’s continued possession of firearms, after the court already ordered their full surrender, is incompatible with the prior order and justifies coercive measures aimed solely at locating and seizing them,” Moraes wrote in the decision authorizing the search. Police said they found no firearms at the former president’s home. When Moraes extended Bolsonaro’s house arrest, he also revoked his gun licences. Bolsonaro’s lawyers initially said the weapons had been held since 2023 by an Army Police battalion in Brasília under a Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) order—but the battalion commander said the unit only had eight of the 10 firearms on record. After looking into it further, Bolsonaro’s lawyers walked back that account, saying one of the missing firearms—a shotgun—had actually stayed at a gun store in Caxias do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, ever since it was purchased, because it had been given to Bolsonaro as a gift. The other, a pistol, they said, had already been seized by Military Police during a traffic stop, at a time when it was being carried by an Army sergeant on the former president’s security detail. In a statement, Bolsonaro’s legal team said all of this had already been explained before the search warrant was even carried out, and that the operation ultimately just “confirmed everything the defense had presented, with no irregularities whatsoever” in the former president’s firearm collection. Bolsonaro’s son, senator and presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro (Liberal Party, PL, Rio de Janeiro), blasted the operation as “a smokescreen” designed to draw attention away from his work in the US. On Tuesday (7), Flávio testified at a public hearing held by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), arguing against tariffs on Brazil tied to the Section 301 investigation. He said that if the tariffs stayed in place, they’d end up benefiting President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers’ Party, PT) in October’s election. “This looks to me like a clear attempt to create a smokescreen while I’m here doing work on Brazil’s behalf — splitting media attention with bad news,” the senator said in a YouTube livestream. He added that the whereabouts of the firearms had already been disclosed to the Supreme Court “calmly, transparently, and with documentation to back it up.” Novo party presidential candidate Romeu Zema also weighed in, calling the operation “suspicious” and arguing that scrutiny would be better directed at a contract between attorney Viviane Barci—Moraes’ wife—and Banco Master. “That’s the operation that’s actually an embarrassment to Brazil,” he said. Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison for leading an attempted coup. He initially served his sentence at Federal Police facilities before being moved to the Papudinha prison complex in Brasília. He was granted house arrest in March for health reasons. Ex-presidente Jair Bolsonaro Luis Nova/AP