Bolsonaro taken into custody after being considered a flight risk
Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities found he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.
The ex-president was sentenced of planning a armed takeover in the ninth month and handed more than 27 years in prison, but he continued under house arrest pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a preventative measure after recent developments came to light.
This included attempting to break his ankle monitor and a call for a demonstration that could enable a potential flight.
Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears
In a document approving the detention, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his flight.
This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his child.
His son, Flávio, who holds office as a legislator, called for a gathering of his followers near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on online platforms on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your country, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your sofa? I invite you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could "pray for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the magistrate's determination was the chance of his move to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a record of organizing to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.
The legal document highlights that the US embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is positioned around 8 miles from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
His judicial problems have generated frustration from fellow conservative nationalist US President Trump, prompting him to impose a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
The former president is being held in a Federal Police station in the capital and will experience a imprisonment assessment on the next day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to authorize him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that he be permitted to depart his residence for medical care, saying he needed regular treatment for lung conditions and other illnesses.
Context of Sentencing
The former president was convicted of leading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the national vote to his left-wing rival, President Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he knew of a plot which involved plans to assassinate the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing the former president's case.
The scheme was prevented because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. Lula was sworn in without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a seven days after, on 8 January, many his backers invaded and destroyed official structures in the federal district, Brazil's capital.
The police stepped in and around approximately 1,500 persons were taken into custody.
The justices found that the rioters had been encouraged by him whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to take action, bring back stability and return him to office.
At the period, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.
He was also barred from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him running in the 2026 presidential election.