The United States on Friday removed Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes from its sanctions list, reversing an earlier decision to list him for his role in presiding over the trial of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
De Moraes’ wife and the Lex Institute she oversees were also removed from the list, according to documents from the Treasury Department’s Foreign Assets Control, which administers and enforces US sanctions programs.
The Brazilian government celebrated the decision, which came after a weekend phone conversation between US President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Bloomberg reported.
Why was the couple punished?
In July, the Trump administration exonerated the judge, accusing him of abusing his position to authorize arbitrary pretrial detention and curtail free speech in Brazil.
A senior Trump administration official said the sanctions were lifted after the US saw the passage of a landmark amnesty bill by Brazil’s lower house as a sign that “law and order” conditions were improving in the country.
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The move represents a tentative thawing of previously frosty relations between the two governments and comes after several meetings and phone calls that both sides described as positive. Trump considered Lula’s predecessor Jair Bolsonaro an ally, with the Brazilian leader even earning the nickname “Trump of the Tropics” when he took office.
What were the charges against Jair Bolsonaro?
The Brazilian leader is said to have masterminded the plot to stay in power despite his defeat in the 2022 election to current president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Trump also faced similar allegations in 2021 after a mob of supporters stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to stop Democrat Joe Biden from taking over the White House.
As a result, Bolsonaro was convicted and sentenced to more than 27 years in prison. The embattled 70-year-old began serving his sentence last month while still seeking to be placed under house arrest due to his deteriorating health.
The major political shake-up his allies had hoped for after his arrest never materialized, though he still wields significant influence as elections approach next year, Bloomberg reported.
The Brazilian government opposes the lifting of sanctions
However, the current Brazilian government called the US decision to lift sanctions a “big defeat” for Bolsonaro and his family.
Brazil’s Minister of Institutional Relations, Gleisi Hoffmann, claimed that it was President Lula who put the lifting of sanctions on Donald Trump’s table in a “dignified and sovereign dialogue”.
“It is a great defeat for the family of Jair Bolsonaro, the traitors who conspired against Brazil and justice,” he added.
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Lula’s left-leaning administration has long accused Eduardo Bolsonaro, a lawmaker and son of the former president, of misleading Trump about de Moraes and other Supreme Court justices. For his part, Eduardo Bolsonaro said he received the news of the lifting of sanctions from de Moraes “with regret”.
The younger Bolsonaro, who announced in March that he would start living in the United States to lobby the Trump administration to help his father avoid prison, said he would continue to fight for Jair Bolsonaro.
When the US first sanctioned de Moraes, it did so under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, a law aimed at punishing human rights abusers and corrupt officials, Bloomberg reported.
