justice. In an expansion of its sanctions targeting Brazil’s judiciary, the administration of US President Donald Trump on Monday imposed sanctions on Viviane Barci de Moraes, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. It also imposed sanctions on the Lex Instituto de Estudos Juridicos, a financial entity controlled by Barci de Moraes and other family members that the US government believes could serve as a vehicle to evade pre-existing sanctions, a Treasury Department notice said.

Shortly after those sanction notices were published, a White House official told the Reuters news agency that the government is revoking the visas of Brazilian Solicitor General Jorge Messias and five other former and current Brazilian judicial officials. Brazil’s Supreme Court declined to comment. Barci de Moraes’s law firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Alexandre de Moraes presided over the criminal case of right-wing former President Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted this month of attempting a coup to stay in power after he lost the 2022 election to current leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison.

His lawyers said they will appeal the conviction although jurists said their chances of success are remote. Alexandre de Moraes himself was hit in July with sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act, which allows the US to impose economic penalties against foreigners it considers to have a record of corruption or human rights abuses. (Aljazeera)