Jair Bolsonaro taken into custody after being deemed a flight risk
Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.
The one-time leader was found guilty of plotting a government overthrow in September and given more than over two decades in jail, but he was staying under house arrest pending court reviews.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a preventative measure after recent developments emerged.
This included trying to remove his ankle monitor and a summons to a public vigil that could "allow for a chance to flee".
Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks
In a document approving the detention, Justice Moraes said information from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the tracking monitor to ensure success in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his son.
His son, Flávio, who works as a senator, called for a gathering of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
His son wrote on online platforms on last Friday: Will you battle for your homeland, or see it all from your phone there on your sofa? I invite you to battle with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could "pray for his health and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the judge's ruling was the potential of Bolsonaro's transfer to embassies near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a history of organizing to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.
The court filing highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, the capital city, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
International Reactions
His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative US President Donald Trump, causing him to implement a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
He is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will have a imprisonment assessment on the following day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on the previous day that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that he be permitted to leave his home for healthcare, saying he demanded regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Background on Conviction
He was found guilty of orchestrating a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his political opponent, President Lula.
High Court judges said that he knew of a plot which encompassed plans to kill Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.
The plot was stopped because it failed to get the support of the army and air force commanders. The current president was inaugurated without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, numerous his backers stormed and vandalised official structures in the national capital, the capital city.
The law enforcement took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The magistrates found that the protesters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, restore order and reinstate his authority.
At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until 2060 - eight years later after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the trial a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the next presidential race.