Officials from Brazil’s Federal Police (PF) searched the residence of conservative former President Jair Bolsonaro for weapons and ammunition on Wednesday — and found nothing.
The search was carried out on the order of Brazilian Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who demanded a wide search of all firearms registered under Jair Bolsonaro’s name this week even though all of the firearms have been accounted for by Bolsonaro’s legal team.
De Moraes reportedly justified the search on the grounds that there was an alleged “discrepancy” between the number of firearms registered under Bolsonaro’s name and the number relinquished by the former president during the legal proceedings against him. The STF justice is widely known for being at the forefront of a persecution campaign against Bolsonaro and for executing a litany of judicial actions against the conservative former president and his family,
Bolsonaro is presently serving a 27-year prison sentence for “crimes against democracy” under a strict house arrest at his home in Brasília. The former president, who suffers from multiple health conditions, was granted temporary humanitarian house arrest provisions this year after a severe case of bacterial pneumonia sent him to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Despite the justice’s assertions, Brazilian lawyer João Henrique Nascimento de Freitas, who is part of Bolsonaro’s legal team, announced on social media that no firearms were found by the police during the search at the residence.
“I have just left President Jair Bolsonaro’s residence after accompanying yet another Federal Police search-and-seizure operation ordered by Justice Alexandre de Moraes,” the Portuguese-language message read. “The warrant sought weapons, ammunition, accessories, and registration documents. The defense had already previously disclosed the whereabouts of all the weapons.
“Result: nothing was found. It is regrettable that a former President of the Republic is still subjected to this type of action,” he concluded.
Former President Jair Bolsonaro is legally unable to publicly comment on the matter, as the terms of the house arrest prohibit him from speaking to the press, using a phone or any kind of communication device, and accessing the internet and social media.
An unnamed Federal Police Force source confirmed to the Associated Press (AP) that nothing was seized from the Bolsonaro residence on Wednesday. Globonews, citing information from an STF document, detailed that the police search operation lasted about an hour and a half. The document reportedly states that no firearms were found at Bolsonaro’s home.
According to Brazilian outlets, there are ten firearms in Brazil registered under Jair Bolsonaro’s name — two of which were handed over to the Federal Police in April 2023. The police confirmed this week that those two firearms have remained under their custody over the past three years.
The Brazilian outlet Poder 360 reported on Monday that, according to the Brasília Army Police Battalion Command, six of the ten firearms were under the Battalion’s custody before it handed them over to the Federal Police this week.
The Battalion reportedly identified the last two firearms as a “Glock pistol and a Maestro Arms Company 12-gauge shotgun.” At the time, de Moraes gave a 48-hour deadline to the Federal Police to find and seize the last two firearms.
Bolsonaro’s legal team reportedly stated that the allegedly missing Glock pistol is the same firearm that was seized by the Civil Police of the Federal District (PCDF) in June. The firearm was found in the glove compartment of a vehicle driven by Sergeant Estácio Leite da Silva Filho, who has been part of the former president’s security team since 2023.
Bolsonaro’s lawyers reportedly explained to de Moraes in June that the firearm was inoperative and was in da Silva’s possession for maintenance at the request of Bolsonaro. Poder 360 pointed out that while the Office of the Attorney General of Brazil did not consider the situation to constitute serious misconduct, the Brazilian top court deemed it “incompatible with the current legal condition” of Bolsonaro.
With regards to the last firearm, the shotgun, the former president’s lawyers explained that it was given as a gift to Bolsonaro but it never reached his hands. The shotgun remained in the custody of an arms-importing company located in the municipality of Caxias do Sul, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
Brazil’s Federal Police reportedly seized the shotgun on Wednesday after an unnamed man reached out to the police and requested its retrieval since he did not possess the required carry permit to transport it to the police on his own.
Brazilian senator and presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro addressed the search of his father’s home through a social media video. The younger Bolsonaro deemed it a “clear smoke screen to divide the attention of the news” and condemned the “relentless persecution” against his father.
The Brazilian senator questioned the motives behind the search at Jair Bolsonaro’s house and accused Justice de Moraes of acting out of mistrust of his father’s legal team. Ordering the police search, Sen. Bolsonaro stressed, showed disrespect to the constitutional principle of the presumption of innocence and a lack of good faith, condemning the “embarrassing” situation for the Bolsonaro family.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.