Jair Bolsonaro arrested after being deemed a risk of fleeing
Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.
The former head of state was sentenced of orchestrating a military coup in the ninth month and handed more than 27 years in jail, but he was staying under home detention pending legal challenges.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after fresh information came to light.
This involved attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a invitation to a demonstration that could enable a chance to flee".
Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks
In a document approving the arrest, the magistrate said information from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the tracking monitor to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the protest called by his son.
His son, Flávio, who works as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on online platforms on last Friday: Will you battle for your country, or observe everything from your phone there on your couch? I urge you to fight with us."
He said the gathering would be so backers could offer prayers for his health and for the return of democracy in our land."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the judge's decision was the potential of Bolsonaro's "relocation to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a background of planning to seek refuge through a embassy office", a announcement said.
The court filing emphasizes that the United States embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is located around 13km from his dwelling.
Global Responses
His judicial problems have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative US President Trump, prompting him to implement a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
The former president is being kept in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will have a imprisonment assessment on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with tracking devices.
They also asked that the former president be allowed to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
The former president was determined responsible of leading a scheme 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 had knowledge of a plot which included plans to assassinate the current president and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was thwarted because it failed to get the backing of the military leaders. Lula was sworn in without incident on 1 January 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged official structures in the federal district, the capital city.
The police intervened and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.
The justices found that the protesters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the time, the legal team called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until 2060 - eight years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The former president called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the next presidential race.