Bolsonaro taken into custody after being deemed a flight risk
Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.
The one-time leader was sentenced of planning a government overthrow in last fall and given more than over two decades in incarceration, but he remained under house arrest pending appeals.
High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after "new facts" were revealed.
This involved trying to remove his ankle monitor and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a possible escape.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a document approving the arrest, the magistrate said intelligence from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's aim to disable the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.
His child, his son Flávio, who works as a senator, called for a gathering of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on online platforms on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your country, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your couch? I urge you to fight with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could offer prayers for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the possibility of his move to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a record of organizing to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.
The court filing emphasizes that the United States embassy in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist US President President Trump, leading him to impose a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
He is being held in a national police facility in the capital and will have a imprisonment assessment on the next day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the Top Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also requested that the former president be allowed to exit his dwelling for medical treatment, saying he required ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was convicted of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the national vote to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a scheme which included plans to murder his opponent and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was stopped because it couldn't obtain the support of the military leaders. The current president was took office without problem on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on 8 January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised public facilities in the national capital, the capital city.
The security forces stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The judges found that the demonstrators had been provoked by him whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from running for public office until twenty-sixty - eight years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The one-time head of state called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 presidential election.