Jair Bolsonaro detained after being deemed a flight risk
Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.
The ex-president was found guilty of plotting a military coup in the ninth month and given more than over two decades in incarceration, but he continued under confinement pending court reviews.
High Court Judge the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" emerged.
This included trying to remove his ankle monitor and a summons to a demonstration that could "allow for a chance to flee".
Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, the judge said information from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the tracking monitor to ensure success in his flight.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
His offspring, 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.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on last Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or see it all from your mobile device there on your couch? I call on you to battle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so backers could "pray for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our country."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the magistrate's decision was the potential of the former president's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a history of arranging to ask for protection through a consular facility", a announcement said.
The court filing highlights that the US embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is situated around 13km from his dwelling.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist United States President Donald Trump, causing him to impose a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
Bolsonaro is being held in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a custody hearing on Sunday.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to allow him to complete his entire prison term under home confinement, with digital surveillance.
They also requested that the former president be authorized to leave his home for medical care, saying he demanded ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
He was found guilty of leading a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the presidential race to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plot which included plans to assassinate the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The scheme was thwarted because it failed to get the support of the armed forces officials. Lula was took office without problem on January 1st, 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, thousands of his backers stormed and vandalised public facilities in the national capital, Brasília.
The law enforcement took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The judges found that the rioters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, bring back stability and return him to office.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The former president called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 national vote.