Bolsonaro arrested after being deemed a flight risk
Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The one-time leader was convicted of orchestrating a government overthrow in the ninth month and sentenced more than a 27-year term in jail, but he continued under home detention pending court reviews.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a safety action after recent developments came to light.
This included seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a summons to a demonstration that could "allow for a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, the magistrate said intelligence from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
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 Saturday evening.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or observe everything from your phone there on your couch? I call on you to battle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the judge's determination was the potential of Bolsonaro's move to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a history of planning to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.
The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the United States embassy in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around 8 miles from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist United States President Donald Trump, causing him to impose a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
Bolsonaro is being held in a national police facility in Brasilia and will experience a imprisonment assessment on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the Top Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under house arrest, with digital surveillance.
They also petitioned that he be authorized to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he required regular treatment for lung conditions and other health problems.
Details of Guilty Verdict
The former president was determined responsible of leading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plot which included plans to murder the current president and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was thwarted because it didn't receive the support of the army and air force commanders. The current president was took office without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised public facilities in the capital, Brazil's capital.
The police took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The justices found that the demonstrators had been provoked by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, bring back stability and return him to office.
At the moment, his attorneys called the over 27-year sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until 2060 - eight years after the completion of his term.
The former president called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the 2026 presidential election.