Jair Bolsonaro taken into custody after being declared a flight risk
The former Brazilian leader 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 government overthrow in the ninth month and given more than over two decades in prison, but he continued under confinement pending court reviews.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after recent developments came to light.
This encompassed attempting to break his tracking device and a invitation to a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a chance to flee".
Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the custody, the judge said data from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his escape.
This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the protest called by his son.
His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.
His son wrote on online platforms on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your country, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your couch? I urge you to fight with us."
He said the gathering would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the potential of the former president's move to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a history of arranging to request asylum through a embassy office", a statement said.
The legal document highlights that the US embassy in the federal district, Brazil's capital, is positioned around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist American leader Donald Trump, prompting him to enact a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
He is being kept in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will experience a custody hearing on Sunday.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also petitioned that the former president be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical treatment, saying he required frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Details of Guilty Verdict
He was convicted of leading a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the presidential race to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a scheme which encompassed plans to assassinate the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing the former president's case.
The conspiracy was stopped because it failed to get the support of the armed forces officials. Lula was inaugurated without issue on January 1st, 2023.
But a week later, on 8 January, numerous his followers invaded and destroyed public facilities in the federal district, Brazil's capital.
The police took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.
The magistrates found that the protesters had been provoked by him whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, bring back stability and return him to office.
At the period, the legal team called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.
He was also banned from running for public office until 2060 - eight years later after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the court case a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 presidential election.