Brazil’s Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) has extended the humanitarian house arrest of former president Jair Bolsonaro without setting a new expiry date, while simultaneously ordering him to surrender all ten firearms registered in his name within 48 hours. The ruling, issued by Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Friday, keeps the 71-year-old confined to his Brasília residence under electronic monitoring and a ban on external communications, but strips him of his firearm permit and his registration as a collector, sport shooter and hunter (CAC). The decision follows the expiry of an initial 90-day period of home detention granted in March after Bolsonaro was hospitalised with bacterial bronchopneumonia.

According to the STF, the extension rests on two findings. First, the court accepted the assessment of the Prosecutor-General’s Office (PGR) that no serious disciplinary infraction occurred when a pistol belonging to Bolsonaro was discovered with a military security agent during a routine traffic stop in June. The PGR and the Federal District civil police concluded the weapon was legally registered and that the former president had not committed a crime, removing a potential obstacle to continued house arrest. Second, Justice Moraes cited weekly medical reports submitted by the defence showing clinical improvement in Bolsonaro’s pneumonia and other comorbidities, yet argued that his age and fragile immune system still make the home environment the most suitable for recovery.

Despite clearing Bolsonaro of misconduct, the court determined that his legal condition as a prisoner serving a 27-year sentence for attempting a coup after the 2022 election is incompatible with firearm possession. The ruling therefore cancels his CAC registration and mandates the immediate seizure of an arsenal that includes pistols, carbines and shotguns, most of them classified as restricted-use. The defence had previously informed the court that Bolsonaro had no interest in recovering the seized pistol, and the ruling warns that any breach of the conditions of house arrest will result in an immediate return to closed-regime imprisonment.

Viewed from Brasília, the decision removes a source of legal uncertainty just as the country enters the final stretch of a presidential campaign in which Bolsonaro’s eldest son, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, is the main challenger to incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The younger Bolsonaro has pledged to pardon his father and remove STF justices if elected. The former president has now spent nearly a year under escalating restrictions, from an ankle monitor and nightly curfew imposed in July 2025 to full house arrest. The STF has not indicated when it will next review the detention regime, leaving Bolsonaro’s status open-ended while the electoral contest unfolds.