Jair Bolsonaro detained after being deemed a escape threat
The former Brazilian leader has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.
The ex-president was convicted of planning a military coup in the ninth month and given more than 27 years in prison, but he was staying under home detention pending legal challenges.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a preventative measure after fresh information were revealed.
This included attempting to break his ankle monitor and a call for a demonstration that could enable a possible escape.
Court Filing Details Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's aim to disable the tracking monitor to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the confusion caused by the protest called by his son.
His offspring, his son Flávio, who holds office as a senator, called for a meeting of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on online platforms on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your country, or watch it all from your phone there on your settee? I invite you to battle with us."
He said the vigil would be so backers could offer prayers for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's decision was the possibility of his transfer to foreign missions near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a record of arranging to seek refuge through a embassy office", a statement said.
The judicial paperwork highlights that the United States embassy in the federal district, Brasilia, is located around 8 miles from his dwelling.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative United States President Trump, leading him to impose a 50% tariff on goods coming from Brazil.
He is being held in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will have a imprisonment assessment on the following day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the High Court to permit him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that Bolsonaro be allowed to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he required frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Context of Sentencing
He was found guilty of heading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the national vote to his ideological adversary, Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plan which involved plans to kill the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The plot was stopped because it couldn't obtain the support of the army and air force commanders. Lula was inaugurated without problem on 1 January 2023.
But a week later, on January 8th, numerous his backers invaded and destroyed government buildings in the capital, Brasília.
The police took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the period, the legal team called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from campaigning for office until 2060 - eight years later after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the 2026 national vote.