Bolsonaro taken into custody after being declared a risk of fleeing
The former Brazilian leader has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was convicted of plotting a military coup in September and sentenced more than over two decades in incarceration, but he remained under home detention pending appeals.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after fresh information emerged.
This included attempting to break his tracking device and a call for a public vigil that could enable a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Concerns
In a filing authorising the custody, Justice Moraes said information from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the tracking monitor to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his son.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a legislator, called for a assembly of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.
The senator wrote on online platforms on Friday: Will you battle for your homeland, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your settee? 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 return of democracy in our country."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's decision was the chance of Bolsonaro's "relocation to embassies near the home, considering that the probes revealed a background of organizing to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.
The legal document highlights that the US embassy in the national capital, the capital city, is positioned around 13km from his dwelling.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative American leader President Trump, leading him to implement a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
He is being held in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will experience a custody hearing on the next day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to allow him to complete his entire prison term under home confinement, with tracking devices.
They also petitioned that the former president be allowed to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he required regular treatment for lung conditions and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was found guilty of heading a conspiracy aimed at retaining his authority after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he knew of a plot which encompassed plans to assassinate Lula and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.
The plot was stopped because it failed to get the backing of the armed forces officials. His successor was inaugurated without issue on 1 January 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, many his followers attacked and damaged public facilities in the capital, BrasÃlia.
The police stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been incited by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to step in, restore order and return him to office.
At the period, his attorneys called the over 27-year sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from seeking elected position until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The one-time head of state called the court case a targeted investigation" and said it was intended to stop him competing in the 2026 presidential election.
