Jair Bolsonaro taken into custody after being deemed a flight risk
Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The ex-president was convicted of plotting a armed takeover in the ninth month and given more than 27 years in incarceration, but he continued under confinement pending court reviews.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a precautionary step after fresh information were revealed.
This involved trying to remove his ankle monitor and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could enable a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a filing authorising the arrest, the magistrate said information from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's plan to remove the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his escape.
This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his son.
His son, his son Flávio, who serves as a senator, called for a assembly of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.
His son wrote on digital networks on Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or see it all from your mobile device there on your couch? I call on you to fight with us."
He said the demonstration would be so followers could offer prayers for his health and for the return of democracy in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the chance of Bolsonaro's move to foreign missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a history of planning to ask for protection through a consular facility", a statement said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, the capital city, is situated around 13km from the former president's residence.
Worldwide Consequences
Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist United States President Donald Trump, prompting him to impose a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.
The former president is being kept in a national police facility in the capital and will have a imprisonment assessment on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also requested that he be allowed to leave his home for medical care, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other ailments.
Details of Guilty Verdict
The former president was determined responsible of leading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the national vote to his political opponent, 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 detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.
The conspiracy was prevented because it didn't receive the endorsement of the military leaders. His successor was sworn in without problem on the first day of 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged government buildings in the national capital, Brasília.
The police took action and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.
The justices found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to step in, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.
At the moment, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the trial a targeted investigation" and said it was intended to stop him competing in the 2026 presidential election.