Alexandre de Moraes grants house arrest to Roberto Jefferson

Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) granted house arrest for humanitarian reasons to former federal deputy Roberto Jefferson. He has been hospitalized since July 2023, after suffering head trauma due to a fall.

In his decision, Moraes ordered Jefferson's passport to be seized and banned from leaving the country, using social media, giving interviews to any media outlet, and receiving visitors other than lawyers, family members, and people previously authorized by the courts. If he fails to comply with the orders, the former congressman will be arrested again.

“At the current procedural moment, therefore, the compatibility between the Dignity of the Human Person, the Right to Health and the effectiveness of Criminal Justice indicates the possibility of granting humanitarian house arrest to Roberto Jefferson Monteiro Francisco, considering his particular and sensitive health condition, amply proven in the records”, wrote Alexandre de Moraes in the decision.

Jefferson faces two lawsuits

At the STF, Jefferson was found guilty of inciting people to commit violence against members of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) that was investigating acts of the Presidency of the Republic during the covid-19 pandemic and to blow up the building of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).

The supporter of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) was also convicted of slander, for accusing the then President of the Senate Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG) of prevarication; and of homophobia, for saying that members of the LGBTQIA+ community would represent the “moral demolition of the family”. The sentence was nine years, one month and five days in prison.

At the TRF-2, the former PTB deputy's case concerns the attack against Federal Police agents who were carrying out an arrest warrant issued by Moraes, in October 2022. Jefferson reacted to the approach by throwing a grenade and firing a rifle, injuring two police officers.