Bolsonaro arrested after being deemed a flight risk
Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under home confinement.
The former head of state was convicted of plotting a armed takeover in last fall and sentenced more than a 27-year term in prison, but he continued under confinement pending legal challenges.
High Court Judge the presiding justice said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after "new facts" emerged.
This included trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a call for a supporters' gathering that could enable a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the custody, the magistrate said data from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the protest called by his offspring.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a legislator, called for a meeting of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.
His son wrote on social media on Friday: Will you battle for your homeland, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your settee? I invite you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's determination was the possibility of Bolsonaro's move to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a record of arranging to request asylum through a embassy office", a statement said.
The judicial paperwork highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
International Reactions
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative United States President Donald Trump, prompting him to impose a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
The former president is being detained in a Federal Police station in the capital and will undergo a detention review on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also requested that the former president be allowed to depart his residence for medical care, saying he needed ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other health problems.
Details of Guilty Verdict
The former president was convicted of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he knew of a plan which involved plans to kill the current president and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The plot was prevented because it didn't receive the endorsement of the military leaders. His successor was inaugurated without incident on the first day of 2023.
But a following week, on 8 January, thousands of his followers attacked and damaged official structures in the national capital, the capital city.
The law enforcement intervened and around approximately 1,500 persons were detained.
The judges found that the protesters had been provoked by him whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the time, the legal team called the 27 years and three months sentence extremely harsh.
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him participating in the 2026 presidential election.