Jair Bolsonaro taken into custody after being considered a flight risk
The former Brazilian leader has been arrested after authorities found he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.
The ex-president was sentenced of planning a armed takeover in September and sentenced more than 27 years in prison, but he remained under house arrest pending court reviews.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after fresh information were revealed.
This involved attempting to break his ankle monitor and a invitation to a public vigil that could enable a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a document approving the arrest, the magistrate said data from the unit overseeing his home detention suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his getaway".
This, it said, would be assisted by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on social media on Friday: Will you battle for your country, or observe everything from your phone there on your settee? I urge you to battle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our country."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's determination was the chance of his "relocation to embassies near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of organizing to seek refuge through a embassy office", a announcement said.
The legal document highlights that the US embassy in the capital, Brasilia, is situated around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist US President Donald Trump, prompting him to impose a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
He is being held in a national police facility in Brasilia and will have a custody hearing on Sunday.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also asked that he be permitted to leave his home for healthcare, saying he needed frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Background on Conviction
The former president was convicted of heading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the national vote to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plot which included plans to murder his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was prevented because it failed to get the support of the military leaders. The current president was took office without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, numerous his backers invaded and destroyed government buildings in the national capital, Brasília.
The security forces intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The magistrates found that the protesters had been encouraged by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the time, the legal team called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The ex-leader called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the next presidential race.