Jair Bolsonaro taken into custody after being considered a flight risk
Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a definite escape threat while under home confinement.
The one-time leader was sentenced of orchestrating a armed takeover in September and sentenced more than 27 years in jail, but he continued under home detention pending appeals.
High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" were revealed.
This involved trying to remove his tracking device and a summons to a demonstration that could facilitate a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a filing authorising the arrest, the magistrate said data from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his flight.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the protest called by his offspring.
His child, Flávio, who works as a senator, called for a gathering of his backers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on social media on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or watch it all from your phone there on your sofa? I invite you to battle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so followers could "pray for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the magistrate's decision was the possibility of Bolsonaro's "relocation to embassies near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a background of arranging to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.
The court filing highlights that the US embassy in the capital, the capital city, is situated around 13km from his dwelling.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist American leader Donald Trump, leading him to implement a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports.
The former president is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will have a detention review on Sunday.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to permit him to complete his entire prison term under home confinement, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that he be allowed to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he needed ongoing care for lung conditions and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
The former president was convicted of heading a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he was defeated in the presidential race to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Top judicial officials said that he was aware of a plot which involved plans to murder Lula and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The plot was prevented because it didn't receive the support of the army and air force commanders. His successor was took office without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, many his followers invaded and destroyed government buildings in the capital, BrasÃlia.
The police intervened and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.
The justices found that the protesters had been encouraged by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the time, the legal team called the 27 years and three months sentence extremely harsh.
He was also banned from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a targeted investigation" and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 presidential election.