Bolsonaro taken into custody after being considered a escape threat
Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.
The ex-president was convicted of orchestrating a armed takeover in the ninth month and handed more than 27 years in incarceration, but he remained under home detention pending court reviews.
High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after recent developments emerged.
This encompassed trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a invitation to a public vigil that could facilitate a possible escape.
Court Filing Details Escape Concerns
In a filing authorising the detention, the judge said information from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's plan to remove the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his escape.
This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His son, his son Flávio, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.
The senator wrote on digital networks on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your sofa? I urge you to fight with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could offer prayers for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the potential of Bolsonaro's move to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of organizing to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.
The court filing emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, the capital city, is located around 13km from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative American leader Donald Trump, leading him to enact a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods.
He is being kept in a Federal Police station in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a custody hearing on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that the former president be allowed to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he needed frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
The former president was determined responsible of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the presidential race to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a scheme which included plans to murder his opponent and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was thwarted because it didn't receive the backing of the military leaders. Lula was sworn in without problem on the first day of 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised official structures in the national capital, Brazil's capital.
The police took action and around 1,500 people were arrested.
The justices found that the protesters had been encouraged by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the period, the legal team called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from campaigning for office until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The one-time head of state called the court case a targeted investigation" and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the next presidential race.