Bolsonaro arrested after being deemed a flight risk
Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.
The one-time leader was sentenced of plotting a military coup in the ninth month and sentenced more than over two decades in jail, but he was staying under confinement pending court reviews.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice the presiding justice said the move to detain the elderly politician was a safety action after fresh information emerged.
This included seeking to disable his tracking device and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns
In a filing authorising the arrest, the judge said data from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his flight.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the confusion caused by the gathering called by his child.
His son, his son Flávio, who serves as a legislator, called for a gathering of his followers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.
The senator wrote on online platforms on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I call on you to battle with us."
He said the vigil would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the chance of Bolsonaro's move to foreign missions near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of arranging to seek refuge through a consular facility", a announcement said.
The court filing underscores that the United States embassy in the capital, Brasilia, is positioned around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
Worldwide Consequences
Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative US President Trump, causing him to impose a 50% tariff on imports of Brazilian goods.
The former president is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will have a custody hearing on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to allow him to complete his entire prison term under house arrest, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that he be authorized to leave his home for medical care, saying he demanded ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other ailments.
Background on Conviction
He was determined responsible of orchestrating a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the presidential race to his left-wing rival, President Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plan which encompassed plans to kill Lula and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.
The plot was prevented because it didn't receive the backing of the army and air force commanders. The current president was inaugurated without problem on 1 January 2023.
But a week later, on 8 January, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised government buildings in the national capital, Brasília.
The police took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The magistrates found that the protesters had been encouraged by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The ex-leader called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the next presidential race.