Brazil's Ministry of Justice and Public Security has dismissed former congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, a son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, from his post as a police clerk (escrivão) in the Federal Police. The order was signed on September 18 by Minister Wellington César Lima e Silva and published on Monday (21) in the Diário Oficial da União, the federal government's gazette. According to news outlet G1, the dismissal rests on a disciplinary infraction of abandonment of post, applied to an officer who is absent from duty "unjustifiably for a period of more than thirty consecutive days".
Eduardo joined the Federal Police in 2010 after passing a civil service exam and had been away from his duties to serve as a federal congressman elected by São Paulo state. Congress revoked his seat in late 2025 over excessive absences, under a constitutional rule that bars deputies and senators from missing more than one third of the year's deliberative sessions. Sources differ on the exact date: G1 reports December 18, while Metrópoles says November 18, 2025.
The disciplinary case
Once he lost his seat, Eduardo was required to return to his clerk post in Rio de Janeiro, which he did not do. According to Metrópoles, an administrative disciplinary proceeding was opened early this year and concluded by the Federal Police in July, with a final report issued on July 21; the final decision belonged to the justice minister. The Federal Police's regional inspector in Rio also ordered him to hand in his service ID and his firearm.
His defense and the criminal case
Eduardo has lived in the United States since February 2025. He says he left Brazil to escape what he describes as political and legal persecution, seeking refuge. On the criminal front, he was sentenced in June this year to four years and two months in prison, to be served in a semi-open regime, for attempting to interfere in his father's trial in the coup plot case, according to G1. The sentence also bars him from running for office for 12 years, until 2038.
On Friday (18), the First Chamber of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Brazil's top court, unanimously rejected an appeal by his defense against the conviction. The ruling's author, Justice Alexandre de Moraes, was followed by Flávio Dino, Cármen Lúcia and Cristiano Zanin in a virtual session. The Federal Police dismissal takes effect from its publication in Monday's gazette. The reports list no date for the start of his prison term and no further appeals by the defense.