Bolsonaro taken into custody after being considered a escape threat
Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was convicted of orchestrating a military coup in last fall and sentenced more than 27 years in incarceration, but he remained under house arrest pending court reviews.
High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a preventative measure after recent developments were revealed.
This involved seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a call for a demonstration that could facilitate a chance to flee".
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the detention, the judge said data from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's plan to remove the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
His child, his son Flávio, 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 digital networks on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your country, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your couch? I call on you to battle with us."
He said the gathering would be so followers could "pray for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our country."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the possibility of his transfer to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of organizing to ask for protection through a consular facility", a statement said.
The legal document underscores that the United States embassy in the capital, the capital city, is located around 8 miles from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative American leader Donald Trump, prompting him to impose a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.
Bolsonaro is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will have a imprisonment assessment on the next day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the High Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with tracking devices.
They also asked that Bolsonaro be allowed to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he demanded regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
He was found guilty of leading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the presidential race to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plot which included plans to assassinate Lula and his running partner, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.
The plot was thwarted because it didn't receive the backing of the military leaders. The current president was sworn in without problem on the first day of 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, numerous his followers attacked and damaged official structures in the capital, Brasília.
The police stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The judges found that the rioters had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose scheme, 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 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from seeking elected position until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the 2026 national vote.