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Brazil's top court rejects Bolsonaro's quote to participate in Trump's inauguration

Brazil's Supreme Court on Friday rejected previous President Jair Bolsonaro's appeal for it to reconsider a previous choice barring him from taking a trip to the U.S. to go to the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.

Bolsonaro's legal representatives had actually filed an appeal late on Thursday declaring the right-wing political leader had totally abided by and appreciated the preventive procedures troubled him by the Supreme Court, and likewise declined any possibility of him fleeing.

However Justice Alexandre de Moraes hours later on promoted an earlier judgment rejecting the previous president's request to have his passport returned, a document seen showed.

Bolsonaro, who has actually been barred from running for office till 2030 and faces criminal charges for allegedly plotting a coup after his 2022 election defeat, had his passport taken in February 2024 on the order of Brazil's top court.

Bolsonaro, who governed Brazil from 2019 to 2022 and has been called Trump of the Tropics, stated recently on X that he had actually been invited to Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration and was seeking to obtain the return of his passport.

Legal experts had previously said Brazil's courts were not likely to grant Bolsonaro's demand, as there were several ongoing examinations and cases versus him that caused the retention of his passport to prevent him potentially leaving the South American country.

In his decision on Thursday, Justice Alexandre de Moraes wrote that Bolsonaro said in a November 2024 interview that he thought about the possibility of leaving and asking for political asylum to prevent possible criminal liability in Brazil.

The former president, who denies any misdeed, in an interview with local news outlet UOL said that those who see themselves as maltreated can go to an embassy.

(source: Reuters)