Jair Bolsonaro detained after being deemed a flight risk
Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.
The ex-president was sentenced of orchestrating a government overthrow in September and given more than a 27-year term in prison, but he continued under house arrest pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after recent developments were revealed.
This included seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a summons to a public vigil that could enable a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the arrest, the magistrate said information from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a senator, called for a gathering of his followers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
His son wrote on digital networks on Friday: Will you battle for your country, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I call on you to battle with us."
He said the vigil would be so backers could offer prayers for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our country."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the possibility of Bolsonaro's move to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a background of arranging to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.
The court filing emphasizes that the US embassy in the capital, the capital city, is situated around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
International Reactions
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative American leader President Trump, causing him to enact a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
He is being held in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will have a detention review on the following 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 home confinement, with tracking devices.
They also petitioned that Bolsonaro be allowed to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he required ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Details of Guilty Verdict
He was convicted of leading a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the presidential race to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he knew of a plot which involved plans to murder his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been managing the former president's case.
The plot was prevented because it failed to get the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. Lula was took office without problem on 1 January 2023.
But a seven days after, on January 8th, numerous his backers attacked and damaged government buildings in the capital, Brasília.
The security forces intervened and around 1,500 people were arrested.
The judges found that the protesters had been incited by him whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the period, the legal team called the over 27-year sentence extremely harsh.
He was also barred from campaigning for office until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The ex-leader called the trial a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 presidential election.