Jair Bolsonaro detained after being considered a flight risk
Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.
The ex-president was sentenced of planning a government overthrow in last fall and sentenced more than 27 years in prison, but he was staying under home detention pending court reviews.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after "new facts" came to light.
This encompassed trying to remove his tracking device and a invitation to a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a potential flight.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the detention, Justice Moraes said data from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his getaway".
This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his son.
His offspring, his son Flávio, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or watch it all from your phone there on your couch? I urge you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so backers could "pray for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the potential of Bolsonaro's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a history of organizing to request asylum through a embassy office", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, the capital city, is situated around 13km from his dwelling.
International Reactions
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist American leader Donald Trump, leading him to enact a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports.
He is being held in a Federal Police station in Brazil's capital city and will have a imprisonment assessment on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to permit him to complete his entire prison term under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also asked that the former president be permitted to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he needed regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Context of Sentencing
The former president was convicted of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the national vote to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he was aware of a plan which involved plans to murder Lula and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.
The conspiracy was prevented because it failed to get the support of the military leaders. Lula was sworn in without incident on the first day of 2023.
But a seven days after, on January 8th, thousands of his followers invaded and destroyed public facilities in the capital, Brazil's capital.
The police intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been encouraged by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence extremely harsh.
He was also banned from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - eight years after the completion of his term.
The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a targeted investigation" and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the next presidential race.