Bolsonaro arrested after being declared a flight risk
The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a definite escape threat while under domestic detention.
The former head of state was found guilty of planning a government overthrow in the ninth month and handed more than 27 years in prison, but he remained under house arrest pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" came to light.
This included attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a summons to a demonstration that could facilitate a chance to flee".
Judicial Records Show Flight Fears
In a document approving the custody, the judge said intelligence from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to secure accomplishment in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a senator, called for a assembly of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on digital networks on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your sofa? I invite you to battle with us."
He said the gathering would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the judge's decision was the possibility of his "relocation to foreign missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a history of organizing to ask for protection through a embassy office", a statement said.
The judicial paperwork highlights that the United States embassy in the capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around 13km from his dwelling.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist American leader Donald Trump, causing him to impose a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
Bolsonaro is being held in a national police facility in the capital and will have a detention review on the following day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that the former president be authorized to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he required frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other ailments.
Context of Sentencing
He was found guilty of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the national vote to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a plot which involved plans to assassinate the current president and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The plot was stopped because it couldn't obtain the backing of the armed forces officials. His successor was inaugurated without problem on January 1st, 2023.
But a week later, on January 8th, many Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised official structures in the national capital, the capital city.
The law enforcement took action and around 1,500 people were arrested.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been incited by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, restore order and bring him back to power.
At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence extremely harsh.
He was also barred from campaigning for office until 2060 - eight years later after the completion of his term.
The former president called the trial a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the 2026 national vote.