🔗 Share this article

Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.

The one-time leader was convicted of planning a government overthrow in September and handed more than 27 years in incarceration, but he was staying under house arrest pending court reviews.

Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" were revealed.

This included attempting to break his tracking device and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a chance to flee".

Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks

In a filing authorising the detention, Justice Moraes said data from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his escape.

This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his son.

His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a legislator, called for a gathering of his supporters near his father's house to take place on the weekend.

The senator wrote on social media on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or observe everything from your phone there on your sofa? I call on you to struggle with us."

He said the gathering would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the magistrate's determination was the potential of his move to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a record of arranging to request asylum through a embassy office", a statement said.

The legal document emphasizes that the United States embassy in the national capital, the capital city, is located around 13km from his dwelling.

Worldwide Consequences

The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative US President Trump, leading him to implement a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.

Bolsonaro is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will have a custody hearing on the next day.

Recent Judicial Appeals

It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the Top Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.

They also petitioned that he be allowed to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he demanded ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.

Background on Conviction

Bolsonaro was convicted of heading a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the 2022 election to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Top judicial officials said that he was aware of a plan which involved plans to assassinate the current president and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over the former president's case.

The scheme was prevented because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the armed forces officials. Lula was inaugurated without incident on 1 January 2023.

But a following week, on 8 January, numerous his followers invaded and destroyed public facilities in the capital, Brasília.

The security forces took action and around approximately 1,500 persons were detained.

The judges found that the protesters had been incited by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, bring back stability and return him to office.

At the time, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.

He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.

The ex-leader called the trial a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him competing in the 2026 presidential election.