Bolsonaro arrested after being deemed a escape threat
Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was sentenced of orchestrating a government overthrow in last fall and sentenced more than over two decades in incarceration, but he was staying under house arrest pending legal challenges.
High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after recent developments came to light.
This included trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a call for a demonstration that could facilitate a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the custody, the judge said data from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his getaway".
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the protest called by his son.
His son, his son Flávio, who serves as a legislator, called for a assembly of his supporters near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.
His son wrote on online platforms on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your couch? I invite you to fight with us."
He said the vigil would be so followers could offer prayers for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the potential of his "relocation to embassies near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of planning to request asylum through a embassy office", a announcement said.
The legal document highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, the capital city, is positioned around 8 miles from the former president's residence.
Worldwide Consequences
His judicial problems have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative United States President President Trump, causing him to enact a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
Bolsonaro is being detained in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will have a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that the former president be allowed to depart his residence for medical care, saying he needed frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other illnesses.
Background on Conviction
He was determined responsible of orchestrating a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the national vote to his political opponent, President Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a scheme which encompassed plans to murder the current president and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.
The plot was stopped because it didn't receive the support of the army and air force commanders. His successor was inaugurated without incident on the first day of 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed official structures in the national capital, Brasília.
The police took action and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.
The justices found that the demonstrators had been incited by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the time, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.
He was also banned from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - eight years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The ex-leader called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him running in the 2026 national vote.