Brazil's top court denies request for Argentina's Milei to visit Bolsonaro under house arrest

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SAO PAULO (AP) — A Brazilian Supreme Court justice late on Friday rejected a request from lawyers of former President Jair Bolsonaro for him to be visited under house arrest by Argentine President Javier Milei.

The encounter was intended to take place in the capital, Brasilia, on July 25.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who also chaired the trial that sentenced Bolsonaro to prison for more than 27 years over a coup attempt, said in his decision that the former president has already been barred from any visits of a “political-electoral nature.”

Milei is expected to attend the Liberal Party convention in Sao Paulo that will certify Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, one of the sons of the former president, as its candidate against incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Lula and Milei have a frosty relationship. The Brazilian president is a historical ally of adversaries of his counterpart, such as former presidents Cristina Fernández and Alberto Fernández.

There's a precendent to Moraes' decision. In March, he denied a request by U.S. State Department official Darren Beattie, a conservative author who became an undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs under the Trump administration, to visit Bolsonaro in prison.

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