Jair Bolsonaro taken into custody after being considered a flight risk
Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.
The former head of state was sentenced of plotting a government overthrow in September and sentenced more than over two decades in incarceration, but he continued under house arrest pending legal challenges.
High Court Judge the presiding justice said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after fresh information came to light.
This involved seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a summons to a public vigil that could "allow for a potential flight.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the detention, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's "intention to break the tracking monitor to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His son, his son Flávio, who works as a senator, called for a meeting of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.
His son wrote on online platforms on the previous day: Will you battle for your homeland, or observe everything from your phone there on your sofa? I urge you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our country."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the judge's decision was the potential of Bolsonaro's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of arranging to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.
The legal document highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, Brazil's capital, is situated around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
International Reactions
The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist United States President Trump, causing him to enact a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.
Bolsonaro is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will have a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on the previous day that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with tracking devices.
They also asked that the former president be authorized to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he needed ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was found guilty of heading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Top judicial officials said that he knew of a plot which involved plans to assassinate Lula and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing his judicial proceedings.
The conspiracy was stopped because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. His successor was took office without problem on 1 January 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, many Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised public facilities in the national capital, the capital city.
The security forces stepped in and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.
The magistrates found that the protesters had been provoked by him whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, restore order and bring him back to power.
At the time, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - eight years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a targeted investigation" and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 presidential election.