Brazil's top court denies Bolsonaro home visit by Argentina's Milei
· UPIJuly 18 (UPI) -- Brazil's top court on Saturday denied a request from former President Jair Bolsonaro to be visited by Argentinian President Javier Milei while under house arrest.
The attempted visit by Milei, a political ally of the far-right Bolsonaro, was part of a campaign to drum up political support for the son of the former president, who is running against leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year sentence for a coup attempt but has been in his home in Brasilia since March due to his health condition.
He was already barred from participating in national politics as part of his sentence.
But Bolsonaro was placed under further restrictions on Friday for breaching conditions of his house arrest, after he wrote a political letter supporting his son's candidature for president.
The son, right-wing state Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro, then showed the endorsement letter during a live stream on social media.
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes barred Bolsonaro from receiving any visits of a "political-electoral" nature until after Brazil's general elections in October.
Bolsonaro's defense lawyers argued in court he was unaware that his son would divulge his writing on social media, though the former president titled the text "letter to the Brazilian people."
"The letter -- written and personally signed by Jair Messias Bolsonaro -- was addressed 'to the Brazilian people,' demonstrating that it was not of a private nature but rather intended for political and electoral purposes, with dissemination to the general public, using Flavio Nantes Bolsonaro as an intermediary, or in his own words, as his 'spokesperson,'" Moraes wrote in his decision, G1 reported.
"The text of the 'Letter to the Brazilian People,' therefore, clearly shows that Jair Messias Bolsonaro intended to communicate with his political supporters through his son's social media accounts," the justice added.
Bolsonaro is now barred from receiving visits for 30 days, except by his medical and legal teams.
He is also not allowed to be visited by his son for 90 days.