The Supreme Federal Court upheld house arrests for ten defendants convicted in the coup plot, following a custody hearing on Saturday, December 27. The measure, authorized by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, aims to prevent escapes like those of Silvinei Vasques and Alexandre Ramagem. Two targets were not immediately located by the Federal Police.
Minister Alexandre de Moraes of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) ordered house arrest for ten defendants convicted in the coup plot on Saturday, December 27, citing the risk of escapes as the 'modus operandi' of the criminal organization. The decision was prompted by recent cases, such as that of Silvinei Vasques, former director of the Federal Highway Police (PRF), sentenced to 24 years and six months for obstructing voter flow in 2022. Vasques fled on Christmas Eve from Santa Catarina, using a rental car to illegally enter Paraguay, where he was arrested on December 26 while trying to board a flight to El Salvador with a fake passport. He claimed in a letter to suffer from brain cancer to justify the medical trip. Transferred to Brasília, Vasques is serving preventive detention at Papudinha, a Military Police unit in the Federal District.
Another example cited by Moraes is Alexandre Ramagem, former Abin chief and ex-deputy, who fled to the United States and had his mandate revoked. Ramagem's stay in Miami is facilitated by investigators helping him with fake documents to obtain a local driver's license, according to the ruling.
The defendants targeted by the warrants include Filipe Martins, former advisor to Jair Bolsonaro; seven Army members on reserve or active duty, such as Colonel Bernardo Romão Corrêa Netto and Lieutenant Colonel Guilherme Marques de Almeida; Marília Alencar, former Intelligence Director of the Justice Ministry; and Carlos Cesar Moretzsohn Rocha, president of the Voto Legal Institute. The arrests were carried out by the Federal Police in states like Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Goiás, and Bahia, with Army support in military cases.
Auxiliary Judge Luciana Yuki Fugishita Sorrentino, from Moraes' office, conducted the custody hearings and upheld the measures for the eight located. Rocha is considered a fugitive, as he was not found and his defense claims an address change. Almeida, traveling in Bahia, committed to returning to Goiânia to comply with the order. Conditions include wearing an electronic ankle bracelet, surrendering passports, prohibition on leaving the country or home, bans on social media, contact with other defendants, and carrying weapons, plus visits only judicially authorized.
Moraes argued: 'The modus operandi of the criminal organization convicted by the Supreme Federal Court indicates the possibility of planning and executing escapes outside national territory, as done by defendant Alexandre Ramagem, including with the help of third parties.' The defendants mainly belong to nucleus 4 of the plot, linked to election questioning and disinformation about ballot boxes in 2022. Defenses of some, like Martins', announced appeals against the decision.
