Bolsonaro taken into custody after being declared a flight risk
Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was sentenced of orchestrating a armed takeover in September and handed more than over two decades in jail, but he was staying under house arrest pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" came to light.
This included seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a invitation to a supporters' gathering that could enable a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Flight Fears
In a paperwork permitting the custody, the judge said intelligence from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his child.
His son, Flávio, who works as a senator, called for a assembly of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on online platforms on Friday: Will you battle for your homeland, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your settee? I urge you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could offer prayers for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the potential of Bolsonaro's transfer to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a history of organizing to request asylum through a consular facility", a declaration said.
The judicial paperwork highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, Brasilia, is located around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
International Reactions
His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist US President Trump, causing him to implement a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
Bolsonaro is being detained in a national police facility in Brasilia and will undergo a custody hearing on Sunday.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under home confinement, with electronic monitoring.
They also requested that he be permitted to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he demanded regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other ailments.
Details of Guilty Verdict
He was found guilty of orchestrating a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the national vote to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he was aware of a plot which involved plans to murder Lula and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was prevented because it didn't receive the backing of the army and air force commanders. His successor was sworn in without incident on 1 January 2023.
But a week later, on January 8th, numerous his followers attacked and damaged public facilities in the capital, Brazil's capital.
The security forces intervened and around 1,500 people were arrested.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been provoked by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the period, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from campaigning for office until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him running in the 2026 national vote.