Jair Bolsonaro detained after being declared a escape threat
Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities found he posed a definite escape threat while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was found guilty of planning a government overthrow in September and handed more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he remained under confinement pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after fresh information came to light.
This encompassed seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a invitation to a demonstration that could enable a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the custody, Justice Moraes said information from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a legislator, called for a assembly of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on last Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or observe everything from your phone there on your settee? I urge you to fight with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could "pray for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the judge's determination was the potential of his transfer to embassies near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a record of organizing to seek refuge through a consular facility", a declaration said.
The legal document emphasizes that the US embassy in the capital, the capital city, is situated around 13km from his dwelling.
Global Responses
His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow right-wing populist US President President Trump, prompting him to impose a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports.
Bolsonaro is being held in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will experience a custody hearing on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.
They also petitioned that Bolsonaro be authorized to leave his home for healthcare, saying he required ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Background on Conviction
The former president was found guilty of heading a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a plan which included plans to murder the current president and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been overseeing his judicial proceedings.
The plot was prevented because it failed to get the backing of the armed forces officials. Lula was sworn in without problem on January 1st, 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, thousands of his followers invaded and destroyed official structures in the federal district, the capital city.
The security forces stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The justices found that the demonstrators had been provoked by him whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the time, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from running for public office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 national vote.