Bolsonaro detained after being considered a escape threat
Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.
The one-time leader was sentenced of plotting a military coup in last fall and sentenced more than over two decades in incarceration, but he was staying under house arrest pending court reviews.
High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after "new facts" came to light.
This encompassed seeking to disable his electronic bracelet and a call for a demonstration that could enable a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Flight Fears
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, the judge said information from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his getaway".
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His offspring, his son Flávio, who works as a senator, called for a assembly of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.
His son wrote on digital networks on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your country, or see it all from your mobile device there on your sofa? I urge you to fight with us."
He said the demonstration would be so followers could offer prayers for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the potential of the former president's transfer to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a record of organizing to seek refuge through a consular facility", a declaration said.
The court filing underscores that the United States embassy in the federal district, Brasilia, is positioned around 8 miles from his dwelling.
Global Responses
Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative US President Trump, leading him to impose a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
Bolsonaro is being held in a national police facility in Brasilia and will have a imprisonment assessment on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that he be permitted to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he required regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
The former president was determined responsible of leading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the national vote to his left-wing rival, President Lula.
High Court judges said that he was aware of a plan which encompassed plans to assassinate Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.
The plot was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. The current president was sworn in without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, numerous his backers attacked and damaged government buildings in the capital, the capital city.
The security forces took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been incited by Bolsonaro whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to take action, restore order and return him to office.
At the period, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also barred from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years after the completion of his term.
The ex-leader called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the 2026 national vote.