Bolsonaro arrested after being declared a flight risk
The former Brazilian leader has been detained after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.
The ex-president was found guilty of planning a armed takeover in September and handed more than over two decades in prison, but he remained under confinement pending court reviews.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after recent developments emerged.
This included attempting to break his ankle monitor and a invitation to a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a chance to flee".
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the arrest, the judge said information from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his escape.
This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His offspring, Flávio, who serves as a senator, called for a meeting of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
His son wrote on digital networks on last Friday: Will you battle for your homeland, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I call on you to battle with us."
He said the vigil would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our country."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the possibility of Bolsonaro's transfer to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a record of planning to ask for protection through a embassy office", a statement said.
The legal document underscores that the United States embassy in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative American leader Trump, prompting him to enact a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.
He is being kept in a national police facility in Brasilia and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on the following day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also asked that Bolsonaro be allowed to leave his home for healthcare, saying he needed ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
He was found guilty of orchestrating a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a plot which included plans to murder Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The conspiracy was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the support of the army and air force commanders. The current president was took office without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, many his backers stormed and vandalised official structures in the national capital, Brasília.
The law enforcement took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The justices found that the rioters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, bring back stability and return him to office.
At the period, the legal team called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also barred from seeking elected position until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the 2026 presidential election.