Defense admits that weapon seized by the PM in blitz belongs to Bolsonaro

In a clarification sent to Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), the defense of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) admitted that the weapon seized in a raid by the Federal District Police in fact belonged to the former president.

According to the document attached to the process, members of Bolsonaro's security team decided, without the former president's prior knowledge, to remove the firing pin from the weapon, an essential part for the shooting. This is because Bolsonaro uses psychiatric medications that affect his cognition, which could cause an accident.

The defense reports that, recently, Bolsonaro noticed a failure in the functioning of the pistol when handling the bolt. Without identifying the source of the problem, he would have handed the weapon to Army second sergeant Estácio Leite da Silva Filho so that he could check the failure and carry out the necessary maintenance. According to the defense, the sole purpose of handing over the weapons to the military was to identify the defect and repair the equipment.

The lawyers also claim that, despite the conviction imposed on Bolsonaro for the coup attempt, there was no judicial order to hand over weapons or cancel registrations, which rules out any irregularity regarding the possession of the object.

"The petitioner, therefore, was not in an irregular situation. In any case, he would have promptly surrendered the weapons if there had been a determination to that effect", said the lawyers.

The defense also states that Bolsonaro has no interest in returning the weapon while he is under house arrest. The pistol is in the possession of the Federal District police, who opened an investigation to investigate the case.

Updating

Source: CNN