🔗 Share this article

Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under domestic detention.

The ex-president was sentenced of plotting a government overthrow in the ninth month and handed more than over two decades in incarceration, but he remained under home detention pending legal challenges.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after fresh information were revealed.

This encompassed seeking to disable his electronic bracelet and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a chance to flee".

Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns

In a filing authorising the detention, the magistrate said data from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his escape.

This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his child.

His child, his son Flávio, who holds office as a legislator, called for a assembly of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.

His son wrote on social media on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or observe everything from your phone there on your sofa? I call on you to battle with us."

He said the vigil would be so followers could "pray for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our land."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the possibility of the former president's transfer to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a history of organizing to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.

The legal document highlights that the US embassy in the capital, Brazil's capital, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from his dwelling.

International Reactions

His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative United States President Trump, prompting him to enact a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.

He is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on the following day.

Recent Judicial Appeals

It was only on the previous day that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under house arrest, with tracking devices.

They also requested that the former president be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he demanded ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.

Context of Sentencing

He was convicted of leading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, President Lula.

Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plan which involved plans to murder Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing his judicial proceedings.

The plot was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the armed forces officials. The current president was took office without incident on 1 January 2023.

But a following week, on the eighth of January, numerous his followers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the federal district, the capital city.

The security forces took action and around approximately 1,500 persons were taken into custody.

The judges found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by him whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to take action, bring back stability and bring him back to power.

At the time, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also barred from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the completion of his term.

The former president called the court case a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him participating in the 2026 presidential election.