Bolsonaro detained after being considered a flight risk
The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.
The one-time leader was sentenced of planning a armed takeover in the ninth month and handed more than over two decades in prison, but he continued under house arrest pending appeals.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a precautionary step after recent developments came to light.
This involved seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears
In a paperwork permitting the detention, the magistrate said data from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his escape.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the confusion caused by the protest called by his child.
His child, his son Flávio, who serves as a legislator, called for a meeting of his followers near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or watch it all from your phone there on your couch? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so backers could "pray for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our land."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the magistrate's decision was the possibility of his "relocation to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of arranging to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork highlights that the United States embassy in the national capital, Brasilia, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from his dwelling.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative United States President Trump, leading him to enact a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
He is being kept in a Federal Police station in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a detention review on the next day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on the previous day that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that he be authorized to depart his residence for medical care, saying he required frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Background on Conviction
The former president was found guilty of heading a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the national vote to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
High Court judges said that he knew of a scheme which included plans to assassinate Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been overseeing the former president's case.
The plot was thwarted because it failed to get the endorsement of the armed forces officials. Lula was sworn in without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed public facilities in the national capital, the capital city.
The security forces intervened and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.
The judges found that the demonstrators had been provoked by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to step in, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the period, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the completion of his term.
The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the next presidential race.