Jair Bolsonaro detained after being considered a flight risk
Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.
The one-time leader was convicted of planning a armed takeover in the ninth month and sentenced more than over two decades in incarceration, but he continued under confinement pending legal challenges.
High Court Judge the presiding justice said the action to imprison the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after recent developments came to light.
This included attempting to break his tracking device and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a possible escape.
Court Filing Details Escape Concerns
In a filing authorising the detention, the magistrate said data from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his flight.
This, it said, would be assisted by the confusion caused by the protest called by his son.
His son, his son Flávio, who holds office as a senator, called for a assembly of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.
His son wrote on online platforms on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or see it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could "pray for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the possibility of the former president's move to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of planning to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.
The legal document underscores that the United States embassy in the federal district, Brasilia, is located around 8 miles from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist United States President Donald Trump, leading him to enact a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
He is being kept in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will have a detention review on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to permit him to complete his entire prison term under home confinement, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that he be allowed to leave his home for healthcare, saying he needed ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.
Background on Conviction
Bolsonaro was determined responsible of orchestrating a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he was aware of a plot which encompassed plans to assassinate his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The plot was stopped because it didn't receive the support of the armed forces officials. The current president was took office without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a following week, on January 8th, numerous his followers invaded and destroyed public facilities in the national capital, Brazil's capital.
The police intervened and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.
The justices found that the rioters had been incited by him whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, bring back stability and return him to office.
At the period, his attorneys called the over 27-year sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from running for public office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the end of his sentence.
The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a targeted investigation" and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the 2026 national vote.