Bolsonaro arrested after being declared a escape threat
Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.
The one-time leader was found guilty of planning a armed takeover in last fall and sentenced more than a 27-year term in jail, but he remained under house arrest pending court reviews.
High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" emerged.
This involved attempting to break his tracking device and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a chance to flee".
Court Filing Details Flight Fears
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, the judge said intelligence from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his flight.
This, it said, would be assisted by the confusion caused by the protest called by his offspring.
His son, his son Flávio, who serves as a senator, called for a meeting of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.
The senator wrote on social media on last Friday: Will you battle for your homeland, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your couch? I call on you to battle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our country."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the judge's ruling was the possibility of Bolsonaro's "relocation to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a background of arranging to seek refuge through a embassy office", a statement said.
The judicial paperwork highlights that the United States embassy in the capital, the capital city, is situated around 8 miles from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist American leader Donald Trump, causing him to impose a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
The former president is being detained in a national police facility in the capital and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the Supreme Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.
They also requested that Bolsonaro be authorized to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he needed regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Background on Conviction
He was convicted of orchestrating a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plot which encompassed plans to murder the current president and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.
The scheme was prevented because it didn't receive the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. Lula was inaugurated without incident on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on January 8th, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed public facilities in the national capital, Brazil's capital.
The law enforcement took action and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.
The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also barred from campaigning for office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The former president called the trial a targeted investigation" and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 presidential election.