Jair Bolsonaro taken into custody after being considered a risk of fleeing
Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under home confinement.
The former head of state was convicted of planning a government overthrow in last fall and given more than 27 years in prison, but he was staying under confinement pending legal challenges.
High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" were revealed.
This included trying to remove his tracking device and a summons to a public vigil that could "allow for a chance to flee".
Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks
In a paperwork permitting the detention, the judge said intelligence from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to secure accomplishment in his escape.
This, it said, would be assisted by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His son, his son Flávio, who holds office as a legislator, called for a meeting of his followers near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.
The senator wrote on social media on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your country, or see it all from your phone there on your settee? I invite you to fight with us."
He said the vigil would be so followers could "pray for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the chance of his move to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of organizing to request asylum through a embassy office", a announcement said.
The legal document underscores that the United States embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist United States President Trump, prompting him to implement a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
Bolsonaro is being kept in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a custody hearing on the following day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to allow him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that the former president be authorized to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he needed frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was found guilty of leading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a scheme which included plans to murder the current president and his running partner, Alckmin, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing the former president's case.
The scheme was prevented because it didn't receive the support of the armed forces officials. His successor was inaugurated without incident on the first day of 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, many his backers invaded and destroyed public facilities in the national capital, Brasília.
The law enforcement intervened and around approximately 1,500 persons were taken into custody.
The judges found that the demonstrators had been provoked by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, restore order and bring him back to power.
At the period, the legal team called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from running for public office until the year 2060 - eight years later after the completion of his term.
The former president called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 presidential election.