Bolsonaro taken into custody after being declared a flight risk
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 found guilty of planning a government overthrow in September and given more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he was staying under confinement pending court reviews.
High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" emerged.
This involved seeking to disable his tracking device and a invitation to a public vigil that could "allow for a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, the judge said intelligence from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to secure accomplishment in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his son.
His son, his son Flávio, who serves as a legislator, called for a gathering of his backers near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on online platforms on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or see it all from your phone there on your settee? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our country."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the chance of the former president's "relocation to foreign missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a record of organizing to ask for protection through a embassy office", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, the capital city, is situated around 8 miles from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist United States President Donald Trump, causing him to implement a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
He is being detained in a national police facility in Brasilia and will undergo a detention review on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with tracking devices.
They also requested that he be allowed to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he needed ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other health problems.
Details of Guilty Verdict
The former president was convicted of orchestrating a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Top judicial officials said that he knew of a plot which involved plans to murder Lula and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.
The conspiracy was prevented because it couldn't obtain the support of the armed forces officials. His successor was inaugurated without issue on January 1st, 2023.
But a following week, on 8 January, thousands of his followers invaded and destroyed government buildings in the federal district, Brasília.
The police took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.
The judges found that the protesters had been encouraged by him whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.
At the time, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also barred from seeking elected position until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The ex-leader called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 presidential election.