Jair Bolsonaro arrested after being declared a flight risk
The former Brazilian leader has been detained after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was sentenced of orchestrating a armed takeover in the ninth month and sentenced more than 27 years in jail, but he remained under home detention pending legal challenges.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after fresh information came to light.
This involved seeking to disable his tracking device and a summons to a public vigil that could "allow for a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the custody, the judge said data from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the surveillance device to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the protest called by his child.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a legislator, called for a assembly of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
His son wrote on social media on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your country, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your settee? I invite you to battle with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could "pray for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the chance of his move to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a background of organizing to request asylum through a embassy office", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, Brasilia, is located around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist American leader President Trump, leading him to impose a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports.
He is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will have a custody hearing on the next day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the High Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that the former president be allowed to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he required ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other health problems.
Background on Conviction
He was determined responsible of leading a conspiracy 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 was aware of a scheme which involved plans to kill his opponent and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing his judicial proceedings.
The plot was stopped because it couldn't obtain the support of the army and air force commanders. Lula was took office without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised official structures in the national capital, the capital city.
The law enforcement intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been incited by the former president whose scheme, 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 extremely harsh.
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the next presidential race.