The former Brazilian president arrested after being considered a flight risk
Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.
The former head of state was sentenced of orchestrating a government overthrow in the ninth month and handed more than a 27-year term in jail, but he remained under confinement pending appeals.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" emerged.
This involved trying to remove his ankle monitor and a summons to a demonstration that could enable a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the detention, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his flight.
This, it said, would be assisted by the confusion caused by the protest called by his son.
His child, his son Flávio, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his backers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on Friday: Will you battle for your homeland, or see it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I urge you to fight with us."
He said the vigil would be so backers could offer prayers for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our nation."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the potential of his move to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a background of planning to ask for protection through a consular facility", a declaration said.
The legal document underscores that the United States embassy in the federal district, Brazil's capital, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative United States President Trump, causing him to impose a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
Bolsonaro is being held in a Federal Police station in the capital and will undergo a custody hearing on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to permit him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also requested that Bolsonaro be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was determined responsible of heading a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the national vote to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Top judicial officials said that he knew of a plan which included plans to murder Lula and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The scheme was thwarted because it didn't receive the backing of the army and air force commanders. Lula was inaugurated without problem on January 1st, 2023.
But a week later, on January 8th, numerous his backers stormed and vandalised public facilities in the capital, Brasília.
The security forces took action and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.
The justices found that the demonstrators had been incited by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the period, the legal team called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him participating in the 2026 presidential election.