🔗 Share this article

Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a definite escape threat while under domestic detention.

The former head of state was convicted of plotting a government overthrow in last fall and given more than over two decades in incarceration, but he remained under house arrest pending court reviews.

Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after recent developments emerged.

This included attempting to break his ankle monitor and a call for a supporters' gathering that could enable a chance to flee".

Judicial Records Show Flight Fears

In a paperwork permitting the custody, the judge said information from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his escape.

This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his offspring.

His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a legislator, called for a meeting of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.

The senator wrote on online platforms on Friday: Will you battle for your homeland, or watch it all from your phone there on your sofa? I urge you to battle with us."

He said the gathering would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our country."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the potential of Bolsonaro's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a record of arranging to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.

The court filing underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, Brasilia, is located around 13km from his dwelling.

Global Responses

The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow right-wing populist US President Donald Trump, causing him to enact a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.

Bolsonaro is being detained in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.

Recent Judicial Appeals

It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with digital surveillance.

They also petitioned that the former president be permitted to leave his home for healthcare, saying he demanded regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other ailments.

Context of Sentencing

He was determined responsible of leading a conspiracy aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Lula.

Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plot which included plans to assassinate the current president and his VP candidate, 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 thwarted because it failed to get the support of the army and air force commanders. His successor was sworn in without issue on January 1st, 2023.

But a following week, on the eighth of January, numerous his backers stormed and vandalised official structures in the federal district, Brazil's capital.

The law enforcement stepped in and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.

The magistrates found that the protesters had been encouraged by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, reestablish control and return him to office.

At the period, the legal team called the over 27-year sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also banned from running for public office until the year 2060 - eight years after the completion of his term.

The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a targeted investigation" and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the 2026 presidential election.