Jair Bolsonaro arrested after being deemed a flight risk
Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The ex-president was convicted of orchestrating a armed takeover in last fall and handed more than over two decades in prison, but he was staying under house arrest pending appeals.
High Court Judge the presiding justice said the move to detain the elderly politician was a preventative measure after fresh information came to light.
This encompassed attempting to break his tracking device and a summons to a demonstration that could facilitate a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, Justice Moraes said data from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's aim to disable the surveillance device to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be assisted by the confusion caused by the protest called by his son.
His son, his son Flávio, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his followers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
His son wrote on digital networks on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or see it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I invite you to battle with us."
He said the vigil would be so followers could offer prayers for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the judge's decision was the chance of Bolsonaro's transfer to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a record of arranging to seek refuge through a embassy office", a statement said.
The legal document highlights that the United States embassy in the national capital, the capital city, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
International Reactions
The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist American leader President Trump, causing him to implement a 50% tariff on goods coming from Brazil.
The former president is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will have a imprisonment assessment on the following day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the High Court to authorize him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that he be authorized to leave his home for medical care, saying he needed frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
The former president was found guilty of heading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he knew of a scheme which included plans to kill the current president and his running partner, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing the former president's case.
The scheme was prevented because it didn't receive the endorsement of the armed forces officials. His successor was sworn in without problem on January 1st, 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, thousands of his backers attacked and damaged official structures in the national capital, Brazil's capital.
The police stepped in and around approximately 1,500 persons were detained.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to take action, restore order and bring him back to power.
At the moment, the legal team called the over 27-year sentence extremely harsh.
He was also barred from running for public office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the court case a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 national vote.