Jair Bolsonaro taken into custody after being declared a escape threat
The former Brazilian leader has been detained after authorities found he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under domestic detention.
The ex-president was sentenced of orchestrating a government overthrow in last fall and given more than over two decades in incarceration, but he continued under home detention pending court reviews.
High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a precautionary step after fresh information emerged.
This included seeking to disable his electronic bracelet and a invitation to a public vigil that could facilitate a potential flight.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, the magistrate said intelligence from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his escape.
This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his son.
His offspring, Flávio, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on the previous day: Will you battle for your nation, or observe everything from your phone there on your sofa? I invite you to fight with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our country."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the chance of his transfer to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of arranging to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.
The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the United States embassy in the capital, Brazil's capital, is positioned around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist US President Donald Trump, leading him to enact a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports.
He is being held in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will have a imprisonment assessment on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to permit him to complete his entire prison term under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also asked that he be permitted to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he needed regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
He was determined responsible of leading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the presidential race to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plan which encompassed plans to assassinate Lula and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The plot was stopped because it failed to get the backing of the army and air force commanders. Lula was took office without issue on January 1st, 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, many his backers attacked and damaged government buildings in the federal district, BrasÃlia.
The law enforcement stepped in and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.
The justices found that the demonstrators had been provoked by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to take action, restore order and reinstate his authority.
At the period, his attorneys called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from campaigning for office until the year 2060 - eight years after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him running in the next presidential race.