Bolsonaro arrested after being deemed a flight risk
Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was convicted of planning a government overthrow in the ninth month and handed more than 27 years in jail, but he was staying under house arrest pending appeals.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the action to imprison the elderly 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.
Court Filing Details Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the custody, the magistrate said information from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the protest called by his child.
His child, Flávio, who holds office as a legislator, called for a meeting of his followers near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I call on you to battle with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the chance of Bolsonaro's move to embassies near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a record of planning to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.
The court filing emphasizes that the United States embassy in the national capital, the capital city, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from his dwelling.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative US President Trump, prompting him to enact a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
The former president is being held in a Federal Police station in the capital and will have a detention review on Sunday.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the Supreme Court to allow him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with tracking devices.
They also requested that the former president be permitted to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he demanded ongoing care for lung conditions and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
The former president was determined responsible of orchestrating a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the national vote to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he knew of a plan which encompassed plans to kill the current president and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been overseeing the former president's case.
The plot was prevented because it failed to get the endorsement of the armed forces officials. The current president was inaugurated without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a following week, on 8 January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed public facilities in the federal district, BrasÃlia.
The security forces took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The justices found that the protesters had been provoked by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also barred from running for public office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The former president called the trial a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him participating in the next presidential race.