Jair Bolsonaro arrested after being deemed a risk of fleeing
Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.
The ex-president was sentenced of orchestrating a government overthrow in last fall and given more than a 27-year term in prison, but he continued under home detention pending legal challenges.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" came to light.
This encompassed trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a invitation to a demonstration that could facilitate a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Flight Fears
In a document approving the detention, Justice Moraes said data from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the gathering called by his child.
His child, his son Flávio, who holds office as a senator, called for a gathering of his backers near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or watch it all from your phone there on your settee? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the judge's decision was the possibility of Bolsonaro's transfer to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a history of planning to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
International Reactions
The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist United States President Trump, prompting him to enact a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
He is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will experience a imprisonment assessment on the next day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the Supreme Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with electronic monitoring.
They also requested that Bolsonaro be permitted to leave his home for medical care, saying he demanded ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was convicted of leading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the national vote to his political opponent, President Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he knew of a scheme which encompassed plans to assassinate Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been managing the former president's case.
The plot was stopped because it couldn't obtain the backing of the military leaders. His successor was took office without issue on 1 January 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed government buildings in the capital, Brazil's capital.
The security forces took action and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.
The justices found that the protesters had been incited by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to take action, restore order and return him to office.
At the period, the legal team called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.
He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him competing in the 2026 national vote.