Bolsonaro taken into custody after being deemed a escape threat
The former Brazilian leader has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was sentenced of planning a armed takeover in September and handed more than a 27-year term in prison, but he was staying under home detention pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the action to imprison the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" were revealed.
This involved attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a invitation to a public vigil that could "allow for a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks
In a paperwork permitting the custody, Justice Moraes said information from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the tracking monitor to ensure success in his flight.
This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His child, his son FlĂĄvio, who holds office as a senator, called for a gathering of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on online platforms on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or see it all from your smartphone there on your sofa? I call on you to fight with us."
He said the gathering would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the potential of the former president's transfer to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a record of organizing to seek refuge through a embassy office", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the US embassy in the capital, Brasilia, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative American leader Donald Trump, causing him to enact a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
Bolsonaro is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the Top Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also requested that the former president be authorized to depart his residence for medical care, saying he needed frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other ailments.
Context of Sentencing
The former president was found guilty of heading a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the national vote to his left-wing rival, Luiz InĂĄcio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he was aware of a scheme which encompassed plans to kill Lula and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The conspiracy was prevented because it didn't receive the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. The current president was inaugurated without incident on 1 January 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, numerous his followers stormed and vandalised public facilities in the federal district, Brazil's capital.
The law enforcement took action and around 1,500 people were detained.
The judges found that the rioters had been provoked by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the time, the legal team 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 end of his sentence.
The ex-leader called the court case a targeted investigation" and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the 2026 national vote.