Jair Bolsonaro taken into custody after being considered a escape threat
The former Brazilian leader 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 government overthrow in last fall and handed more than 27 years in prison, but he remained under confinement pending appeals.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after fresh information came to light.
This encompassed trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a summons to a demonstration that could facilitate a potential flight.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the custody, the judge said data from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to secure accomplishment in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the protest called by his child.
His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a legislator, called for a gathering of his supporters near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.
The senator wrote on digital networks on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your country, or see it all from your phone there on your couch? I call on you to battle with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could offer prayers for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our nation."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the possibility of his transfer to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of planning to ask for protection through a embassy office", a statement said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, the capital city, is situated around 8 miles from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow right-wing populist United States President Donald Trump, leading him to impose a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports.
He is being detained in a national police facility in the capital and will have a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the High Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with digital surveillance.
They also petitioned that the former president be permitted to leave his home for medical care, saying he required ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other ailments.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was determined responsible of leading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the presidential race to his left-wing rival, President Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a plan which encompassed plans to assassinate Lula and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing the former president's case.
The scheme was stopped because it failed to get the support of the armed forces officials. The current president was inaugurated without issue on January 1st, 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, thousands of his followers invaded and destroyed government buildings in the national capital, Brazil's capital.
The law enforcement intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been provoked 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 moment, the legal team called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from running for public office until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The one-time head of state called the trial a targeted investigation" and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 national vote.