The former Brazilian president detained after being declared a risk of fleeing
Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.
The ex-president was found guilty of orchestrating a government overthrow in September and sentenced more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he remained under home detention pending court reviews.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" were revealed.
This involved seeking to disable his tracking device and a call for a supporters' gathering that could enable a chance to flee".
Court Filing Details Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the custody, the magistrate said intelligence from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's aim to disable the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his getaway".
This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the protest called by his son.
His offspring, Flávio, who serves as a senator, called for a assembly of his backers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
His son wrote on social media on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your couch? I call on you to battle with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could "pray for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the chance of Bolsonaro's "relocation to embassies near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of arranging to request asylum through a embassy office", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the US embassy in the national capital, the capital city, is located around 13km from his dwelling.
International Reactions
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative US President Trump, leading him to impose a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
The former president is being held in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will experience a detention review on the next day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to permit him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with digital surveillance.
They also petitioned that the former president be allowed to depart his residence for medical care, saying he required ongoing care for lung conditions and other ailments.
Context of Sentencing
The former president was found guilty of orchestrating a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his political opponent, Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plot which involved plans to kill Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been overseeing his judicial proceedings.
The conspiracy was stopped because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. Lula 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 capital, Brazil's capital.
The police stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The judges found that the protesters had been incited by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to take action, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the time, the legal team called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.
He was also barred from running for public office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The former president called the court case a targeted investigation" and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the 2026 presidential election.