The former Brazilian president detained after being deemed a flight risk
Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The one-time leader was convicted of planning a government overthrow in the ninth month and handed more than 27 years in jail, but he continued under house arrest pending court reviews.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice the presiding justice said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" emerged.
This encompassed trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a call for a demonstration that could "allow for a chance to flee".
Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears
In a paperwork permitting the custody, Justice Moraes said information from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his flight.
This, it said, would be assisted by the confusion caused by the protest called by his offspring.
His son, his son Flávio, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.
The senator wrote on social media on Friday: Will you battle for your homeland, or see it all from your phone there on your couch? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the vigil would be so followers could offer prayers for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the possibility of the former president's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a record of planning to request asylum through a consular facility", a announcement said.
The legal document underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, Brasilia, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from his dwelling.
Global Responses
Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist US President Trump, prompting him to impose a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports.
Bolsonaro is being detained in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on the next day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also petitioned that the former president be permitted to depart his residence for medical care, saying he needed frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
The former president was found guilty of heading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plan which involved plans to kill Lula and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been overseeing his judicial proceedings.
The scheme was stopped because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. The current president was inaugurated without problem on 1 January 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, thousands of his followers attacked and damaged government buildings in the national capital, Brazil's capital.
The law enforcement stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.
The judges found that the rioters had been provoked by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, bring back stability and bring him back to power.
At the period, the legal team called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also prohibited from running for public office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the completion of his term.
The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the next presidential race.