Jair Bolsonaro taken into custody after being declared a escape threat
The former Brazilian leader has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The one-time leader was sentenced of planning a armed takeover in September and handed more than a 27-year term in jail, but he remained under house arrest pending appeals.
High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a preventative measure after recent developments were revealed.
This involved attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a invitation to a public vigil that could "allow for a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Concerns
In a document approving the arrest, Justice Moraes said data from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the tracking monitor to ensure success in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
His offspring, his son Flávio, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his supporters near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or see it all from your phone there on your sofa? I urge you to battle with us."
He said the vigil would be so followers could "pray for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our country."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the possibility of Bolsonaro's "relocation to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a history of planning to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the US embassy in the national capital, Brasilia, is positioned around 8 miles from his dwelling.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist American leader Donald Trump, prompting him to enact a 50% tariff on imports of Brazilian goods.
He is being kept in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will experience a imprisonment assessment 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 fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with tracking devices.
They also asked that the former president be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he demanded regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Context of Sentencing
The former president was determined responsible of leading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the presidential race to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he knew of a scheme which involved plans to kill his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been overseeing his judicial proceedings.
The plot was stopped because it couldn't obtain the support of the military leaders. His successor was took office without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a seven days after, on 8 January, thousands of his followers invaded and destroyed public facilities in the national capital, Brazil's capital.
The security forces stepped in and around approximately 1,500 persons were detained.
The magistrates found that the protesters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence extremely harsh.
He was also barred from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him running in the 2026 presidential election.