Jair Bolsonaro taken into custody after being considered a risk of fleeing
Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a definite escape threat while under home confinement.
The former head of state was convicted of plotting a armed takeover in last fall and given more than a 27-year term in prison, but he continued under house arrest pending court reviews.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a safety action after "new facts" came to light.
This encompassed seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a invitation to a public vigil that could "allow for a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Flight Fears
In a document approving the arrest, the judge said intelligence from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his escape.
This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a senator, called for a assembly of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on online platforms on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your country, or observe everything from your phone there on your settee? I call on you to fight with us."
He said the vigil would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our country."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's decision was the potential of his "relocation to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a history of organizing to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.
The legal document emphasizes that the United States embassy in the national capital, Brasilia, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist US President Trump, causing him to implement a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
He is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will have a custody hearing on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to authorize him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with digital surveillance.
They also petitioned that he be authorized to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he demanded ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
He was convicted of leading a conspiracy aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the national vote to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he knew of a plot which included plans to kill Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing his judicial proceedings.
The scheme was thwarted because it didn't receive the backing of the armed forces officials. The current president was sworn in without issue on 1 January 2023.
But a seven days after, on January 8th, numerous his backers invaded and destroyed public facilities in the capital, Brasília.
The police took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The justices found that the demonstrators had been incited by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also barred from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The ex-leader called the trial a targeted investigation" and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the 2026 national vote.