The former Brazilian president taken into custody after being considered a escape threat
Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was sentenced of orchestrating a military coup in the ninth month and sentenced more than 27 years in incarceration, but he remained under house arrest pending legal challenges.
High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after fresh information came to light.
This included trying to remove his tracking device and a summons to a public vigil that could facilitate a potential flight.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the custody, Justice Moraes said data from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to secure accomplishment in his flight.
This, it said, would be assisted by the confusion caused by the protest called by his child.
His offspring, his son Flávio, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.
His son wrote on online platforms on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or see it all from your phone there on your settee? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the vigil would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's decision was the chance of Bolsonaro's transfer to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a record of organizing to seek refuge through a consular facility", a declaration said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the US embassy in the capital, the capital city, is situated around 13km from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist United States President Trump, prompting him to enact a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports.
The former president is being held in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will have a detention review on the next day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that the former president be allowed to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he needed ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Background on Conviction
Bolsonaro was convicted of orchestrating a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the presidential race to his left-wing rival, Lula.
High Court judges said that he knew of a plan which involved plans to kill the current president and his running partner, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been overseeing his judicial proceedings.
The plot was thwarted because it didn't receive the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. Lula was inaugurated without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, many his backers stormed and vandalised official structures in the capital, the capital city.
The security forces stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The judges found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, bring back stability and return him to office.
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 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the trial a targeted investigation" and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 presidential election.