Jair Bolsonaro taken into custody after being declared a risk of fleeing
Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.
The ex-president was convicted of orchestrating a armed takeover in the ninth month and handed more than over two decades in incarceration, but he was staying under house arrest pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after recent developments emerged.
This involved trying to remove his ankle monitor and a summons to a public vigil that could "allow for a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a filing authorising the detention, the judge said data from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his escape.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the confusion caused by the protest called by his son.
His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his backers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on digital networks on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or see it all from your mobile device there on your sofa? I urge you to fight with us."
He said the vigil would be so backers could "pray for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the possibility of the former president's "relocation to foreign missions near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a background of organizing to seek refuge through a embassy office", a declaration said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the United States embassy in the capital, Brazil's capital, is positioned around 13km from his dwelling.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow right-wing populist United States President Donald Trump, causing him to impose a 50% tariff on goods coming from Brazil.
The former president is being held in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will have a detention review on Sunday.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the Top Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with tracking devices.
They also requested that the former president be permitted to depart his residence for medical care, saying he required ongoing care for lung conditions and other health problems.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was convicted of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the presidential race to his political opponent, Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plan which included plans to murder the current president and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The plot was thwarted because it failed to get the backing of the military leaders. Lula was inaugurated without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, thousands of his followers stormed and vandalised public facilities in the capital, the capital city.
The security forces stepped in and around approximately 1,500 persons were taken into custody.
The judges found that the protesters had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, restore order and bring him back to power.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The former president called the legal proceedings a targeted investigation" and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 presidential election.