Bolsonaro taken into custody after being considered a flight risk
Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.
The ex-president was sentenced of plotting a government overthrow in last fall and handed more than a 27-year term in prison, but he was staying under confinement pending legal challenges.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice the presiding justice said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after recent developments emerged.
This encompassed trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a invitation to a demonstration that could enable a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the detention, the judge said information from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his getaway".
This, it said, would be assisted by the confusion caused by the gathering called by his child.
His son, Flávio, who serves as a senator, called for a meeting of his followers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on social media on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your sofa? I call on you to fight with us."
He said the gathering would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our country."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the potential of the former president's move to foreign missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a history of planning to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.
The court filing highlights that the United States embassy in the national capital, Brasilia, is located around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative American leader Donald Trump, leading him to implement a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports.
The former president is being held in a national police facility in Brasilia and will undergo a custody hearing on Sunday.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.
They also requested that he be permitted to leave his home for healthcare, saying he needed ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was convicted of leading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a scheme which encompassed plans to assassinate his opponent and his running partner, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The plot was prevented because it didn't receive the backing of the armed forces officials. His successor was sworn in without problem on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on January 8th, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed government buildings in the national capital, Brazil's capital.
The police stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The justices found that the rioters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to step in, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until 2060 - eight years after the completion of his term.
The one-time head of state called the court case a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him competing in the next presidential race.