Brazilian judge bars defeated Flávio Bolsonaro from leaving country

Brazilian supreme court judge Alexandre de Moraes has barred defeated presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro from leaving the country and ordered his Brazilian passports cancelled, according to reports of a confidential ruling published on Monday. The restriction comes a day after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won re-election.

CNN Brasil says it obtained the ruling, while Terra has published an excerpt from a copy obtained by GloboNews. The excerpt also orders an immigration alert, bars Bolsonaro from contacting lawyer Willer Tomaz and gives him 24 hours to hand over any passports issued by other countries. CNN Brasil reported that federal police notified Bolsonaro of the decision on Monday morning; his campaign told Terra he would comply.

The order is connected to a Supreme Court investigation into suspected money laundering involving Bolsonaro and Tomaz, according to CNN Brasil and Agência Brasil. Bolsonaro described the measure as intimidation and said it was prompted by his brother Eduardo’s suggestion that he leave Brazil if he lost. The Guardian reports that the brief ruling refers only to the criminal case. The full confidential decision has not been published.

Brazil’s electoral court says Lula won Sunday’s run-off by 64,256,232 votes to Bolsonaro’s 59,826,041 — a margin of more than 4.4 million. Bolsonaro said he would seek to annul the election, objecting to a two-hour extension of voting at polling stations that were still open. His own campaign had also requested an extension, citing heavy rain. On Monday night, his party said it recognised the result, although Bolsonaro had not conceded defeat.