The former Brazilian president taken into custody after being declared a flight risk
Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The ex-president was found guilty of planning a government overthrow in September and handed more than 27 years in incarceration, but he remained under house arrest pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" were revealed.
This encompassed trying to remove his tracking device and a invitation to a public vigil that could facilitate a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the detention, 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 electronic ankle bracelet to secure accomplishment in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his backers near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.
His son wrote on online platforms on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or see it all from your phone there on your sofa? I urge you to battle with us."
He said the gathering would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the chance of Bolsonaro's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a history of organizing to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.
The court filing highlights that the United States embassy in the capital, Brasilia, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
Worldwide Consequences
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist American leader Donald Trump, causing him to impose a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
Bolsonaro is being kept in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will have a custody hearing on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with digital surveillance.
They also petitioned that Bolsonaro be permitted to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he demanded regular treatment for lung conditions and other ailments.
Details of Guilty Verdict
The former president was convicted of orchestrating a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Top judicial officials said that he was aware of a plan which included plans to assassinate the current president and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been overseeing his judicial proceedings.
The conspiracy was prevented because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. His successor was inaugurated without incident on 1 January 2023.
But a week later, on January 8th, thousands of his followers stormed and vandalised official structures in the capital, the capital city.
The security forces took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The justices found that the rioters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, bring back stability and return him to office.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also prohibited from running for public office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The former president called the legal proceedings a targeted investigation" and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the 2026 presidential election.
