Jair Bolsonaro taken into custody after being deemed a flight risk
The former Brazilian leader has been detained after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The former head of state was sentenced of plotting a military coup in September and sentenced more than 27 years in jail, but he continued under home detention pending appeals.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after fresh information emerged.
This encompassed attempting to break his tracking device and a summons to a demonstration that could facilitate a chance to flee".
Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, Justice Moraes said information from the unit overseeing his home detention suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
His son, his son Flávio, who works as a legislator, called for a gathering of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
His son wrote on online platforms on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your settee? I invite you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so backers could "pray for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our country."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the possibility of Bolsonaro's move to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a record of arranging to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the United States embassy in the national capital, the capital city, is situated around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist American leader President Trump, causing him to enact a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
He is being held in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will have a detention review on Sunday.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the Top Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with digital surveillance.
They also requested that he be permitted to depart his residence for medical care, saying he demanded ongoing care for lung conditions and other health problems.
Background on Conviction
He was found guilty of orchestrating a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he lost 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 assassinate his opponent and his running partner, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The plot was stopped because it failed to get the support of the armed forces officials. Lula was sworn in without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on 8 January, numerous his backers attacked and damaged government buildings in the capital, the capital city.
The security forces took action and around approximately 1,500 persons were detained.
The judges found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, restore order and reinstate his authority.
At the time, the legal team called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from running for public office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The one-time head of state called the trial a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him participating in the 2026 national vote.