Jair Bolsonaro taken into custody after being declared a flight risk
Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.
The ex-president was found guilty of plotting a armed takeover in last fall and handed more than a 27-year term in prison, but he remained under confinement pending legal challenges.
High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a preventative measure after recent developments came to light.
This included trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a invitation to a public vigil that could enable a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Concerns
In a document approving the custody, Justice Moraes said data from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's "intention to break the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his son.
His offspring, his son Flávio, who serves as a senator, called for a assembly of his followers near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.
His son wrote on social media on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your sofa? I urge you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so followers could offer prayers for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the judge's decision was the possibility of Bolsonaro's "relocation to embassies near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of arranging to seek refuge through a embassy office", a statement said.
The court filing highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from his dwelling.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative US President Trump, leading him to implement a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
He is being held in a national police facility in the capital and will have a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the Supreme Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also asked that he be authorized to leave his home for healthcare, saying he needed frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other health problems.
Details of Guilty Verdict
The former president was found guilty of leading a scheme 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 had knowledge of a plot which involved plans to assassinate his opponent and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been managing the former president's case.
The conspiracy was stopped because it didn't receive the endorsement of the armed forces officials. Lula was took office without problem on January 1st, 2023.
But a seven days after, on January 8th, numerous his followers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the federal district, Brazil's capital.
The police intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The justices found that the protesters had been incited by Bolsonaro whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to take action, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the time, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The former president called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the 2026 presidential election.