Jair Bolsonaro taken into custody after being considered a flight risk
Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.
The one-time leader was convicted of planning a government overthrow in last fall and handed more than over two decades in jail, but he was staying under confinement pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after recent developments emerged.
This involved trying to remove his tracking device and a call for a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a potential flight.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks
In a paperwork permitting the detention, the judge said intelligence from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the protest called by his son.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on digital networks on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your sofa? I urge you to battle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so followers could "pray for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the judge's ruling was the possibility of his transfer to foreign missions near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of planning to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist United States President Donald Trump, prompting him to impose a 50% tariff on goods coming from Brazil.
The former president is being detained in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will experience a detention review on the following day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.
They also requested that he be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he required ongoing care for lung conditions and other ailments.
Details of Guilty Verdict
He was determined responsible of orchestrating a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the presidential race to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plot which included plans to kill Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing the former president's case.
The plot was prevented because it failed to get the endorsement of the armed forces officials. Lula was took office without problem on January 1st, 2023.
But a following week, on January 8th, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged government buildings in the national capital, Brazil's capital.
The police stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.
The judges found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by him whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, restore order and return him to office.
At the moment, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also barred from running for public office until the year 2060 - eight years later after the completion of his term.
The former president called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him running in the 2026 national vote.