Bolsonaro detained after being declared a flight risk
Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.
The former head of state was convicted of orchestrating a military coup in the ninth month and given more than 27 years in incarceration, but he was staying under home detention pending appeals.
Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after fresh information were revealed.
This involved attempting to break his tracking device and a invitation to a demonstration that could facilitate a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears
In a document approving the arrest, the magistrate said intelligence from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's "intention to break the tracking monitor to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a senator, called for a meeting of his followers near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on online platforms on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or watch it all from your phone there on your sofa? I invite you to fight with us."
He said the vigil would be so followers could offer prayers for his health and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the possibility of Bolsonaro's transfer to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a record of planning to request asylum through a embassy office", a statement said.
The legal document underscores that the US embassy in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is positioned around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist US President Trump, prompting him to enact a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
The former president is being held in a Federal Police station in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a detention review on Sunday.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that the former president be authorized to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he required regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Context of Sentencing
The former president was found guilty of orchestrating a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Lula.
High Court judges said that he knew of a plot which involved plans to murder Lula and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The scheme was prevented because it didn't receive the backing of the army and air force commanders. The current president was sworn in without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed government buildings in the national capital, Brasília.
The security forces took action and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been incited by him whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the time, the legal team called the 27 years and three months sentence extremely harsh.
He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The ex-leader called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him running in the 2026 national vote.