Jair Bolsonaro arrested after being declared a escape threat
The former Brazilian leader has been detained after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.
The one-time leader was convicted of planning a government overthrow in the ninth month and sentenced more than 27 years in prison, but he continued under house arrest pending court reviews.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a safety action after recent developments were revealed.
This included attempting to break his ankle monitor and a call for a demonstration that could enable a chance to flee".
Judicial Records Show Escape Risks
In a document approving the custody, the judge said intelligence from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his escape.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the protest called by his child.
His son, his son Flávio, who works as a senator, called for a meeting of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on digital networks on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your country, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I call on you to fight with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could "pray for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our country."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the chance of Bolsonaro's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a history of organizing to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.
The court filing highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, Brasilia, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist United States President Trump, causing him to implement a 50% tariff on imports of Brazilian goods.
He is being held in a national police facility in Brasilia and will experience a custody hearing on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with tracking devices.
They also asked that he be authorized to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he required ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was determined responsible of heading a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a plan which included plans to kill his opponent and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The plot was prevented because it didn't receive the backing of the army and air force commanders. Lula was inaugurated without incident on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on 8 January, many his backers attacked and damaged public facilities in the capital, the capital city.
The law enforcement stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been provoked by him whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to step in, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.
At the time, the legal team called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from campaigning for office until 2060 - eight years later after the completion of his term.
The one-time head of state called the trial a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 presidential election.