Jair Bolsonaro detained after being declared a flight risk
Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.
The one-time leader was sentenced of planning a government overthrow in September and handed more than 27 years in jail, but he continued under confinement pending legal challenges.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice the presiding justice said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after recent developments emerged.
This encompassed attempting to break his tracking device and a summons to a public vigil that could facilitate a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears
In a document approving the custody, the magistrate said information from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the surveillance device to ensure success in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His child, Flávio, who works as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
His son wrote on social media on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or watch it all from your phone there on your settee? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the judge's ruling was the potential of Bolsonaro's transfer to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of arranging to request asylum through a embassy office", a announcement said.
The legal document highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is located around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative American leader President Trump, leading him to enact a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
The former president is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will have a custody hearing on the next day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to permit him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also requested that the former president be permitted to leave his home for healthcare, saying he needed frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Background on Conviction
He was determined responsible of heading a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the national vote to his ideological adversary, Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a plan which included plans to assassinate the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was prevented because it failed to get the backing of the military leaders. His successor was inaugurated without problem on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on 8 January, numerous his followers invaded and destroyed government buildings in the capital, the capital city.
The police intervened and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.
The justices found that the rioters had been encouraged by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to step in, restore order and reinstate his authority.
At the moment, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The ex-leader called the court case a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the next presidential race.