Moraes Orders Flávio Bolsonaro to Surrender His Passports and Bars Him From Leaving Brazil in a Sealed Order Served the Day After the Runoff

Justice Alexandre de Moraes of Brazil’s Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) ordered Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro to surrender his passports to the Federal Police (PF) and barred him from leaving Brazil, Brazil’s public news agency reported on Mon. Oct. 26 (served and made public that day; the runoff was Sun. Oct. 25). The order is sealed and the senator published it himself, so its text was not seen; every term here rests on press accounts and his statement.

When it was signed is not settled. That agency dates the order to Monday Oct. 26. Bolsonaro says it was made Sunday night, right after the result, and Poder360 places Moraes’s decision that night, after a PF request signed at 21h16 BRT, seven minutes after Lula’s win was confirmed, with no exact time released. Poder360 adds that the order barred contact with a lawyer in the same inquiry and cancelled his Brazilian regular and diplomatic passports. The inquiry concerns suspected money laundering and currency evasion.

The PF served him late Monday morning with a 24-hour deadline; the deadline ended at noon BRT on Tue. Oct. 27 without delivery. Bolsonaro said in a video that afternoon that he had no intention of leaving and would hand the passports over. He then crossed into Argentina at 22:50 ART on Oct. 27 (see the Oct. 28 entry).