The former Brazilian president taken into custody after being deemed a risk of fleeing
The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a definite escape threat while under home confinement.
The former head of state was convicted of planning a military coup in last fall and handed more than 27 years in incarceration, but he remained under home detention pending court reviews.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the action to imprison the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after recent developments emerged.
This encompassed seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the detention, the judge said intelligence from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his son.
His offspring, his son Flávio, who serves as a senator, called for a assembly of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.
The senator wrote on online platforms on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or observe everything from your phone there on your couch? I urge you to battle with us."
He said the gathering would be so followers could "pray for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our land."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the potential of his move to foreign missions near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of planning to request asylum through a embassy office", a statement said.
The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, Brazil's capital, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.
Worldwide Consequences
Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow conservative nationalist US President Trump, causing him to enact a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
Bolsonaro is being kept in a national police facility in the capital and will experience a detention review on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that the former president be allowed to depart his residence for medical care, saying he demanded regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other ailments.
Context of Sentencing
He was convicted of heading a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the national vote to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a plan which involved plans to kill his opponent and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.
The conspiracy was thwarted because it failed to get the backing of the armed forces officials. The current president was sworn in without problem on January 1st, 2023.
But a week later, on 8 January, thousands of his backers attacked and damaged government buildings in the capital, the capital city.
The police intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The justices found that the protesters had been provoked by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence extremely harsh.
He was also banned from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - eight years later after the end of his sentence.
The ex-leader called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him participating in the 2026 presidential election.