🔗 Share this article

Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.

The former head of state was sentenced of plotting a government overthrow in September and given more than a 27-year term in jail, but he continued under home detention pending appeals.

High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after fresh information were revealed.

This encompassed seeking to disable his tracking device and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a potential flight.

Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks

In a paperwork permitting the detention, the judge said information from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the surveillance device to ensure success in his escape.

This, it said, would be "facilitated by the confusion caused by the protest called by his son.

His son, Flávio, who works as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his supporters near his father's house to take place on the weekend.

The senator wrote on digital networks on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or watch it all from your phone there on your sofa? I call on you to battle with us."

He said the vigil would be so supporters could "pray for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of the magistrate's ruling was the possibility of the former president's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a background of planning to seek refuge through a consular facility", a announcement said.

The judicial paperwork highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, the capital city, is located around 13km from the former president's residence.

International Reactions

The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist United States President President Trump, prompting him to implement a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.

He is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will experience a imprisonment assessment on the following day.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to permit him to complete his entire prison term under house arrest, with digital surveillance.

They also petitioned that the former president be permitted to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he demanded ongoing care for lung conditions and other illnesses.

Background on Conviction

He was determined responsible of leading a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

High Court judges said that he knew of a plot which involved plans to kill Lula and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.

The scheme was prevented because it failed to get the backing of the armed forces officials. Lula was took office without problem on 1 January 2023.

But a week later, on the eighth of January, thousands of his followers attacked and damaged public facilities in the capital, Brasília.

The police took action and around approximately 1,500 persons were detained.

The justices found that the rioters had been encouraged by him whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to take action, bring back stability 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 prohibited from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the completion of his term.

The former president called the trial a targeted investigation" and said it was intended to stop him competing in the 2026 presidential election.