Jair Bolsonaro taken into custody after being deemed a escape threat

The former Brazilian leader has been detained after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.

The ex-president was sentenced of planning a government overthrow in September and handed more than a 27-year term in jail, but he remained under home detention pending court reviews.

High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after recent developments came to light.

This encompassed attempting to break his ankle monitor and a call for a demonstration that could "allow for a potential flight.

Judicial Records Show Flight Fears

In a document approving the custody, the magistrate said intelligence from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to secure accomplishment in his getaway".

This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his son.

His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a legislator, called for a gathering of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.

The senator wrote on online platforms on the previous day: Will you battle for your nation, or see it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I invite you to fight with us."

He said the vigil would be so backers could "pray for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our country."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the potential of the former president's transfer to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a record of arranging to seek refuge through a embassy office", a announcement said.

The court filing highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, the capital city, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.

International Reactions

His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist American leader Donald Trump, prompting him to implement a 50% tariff on goods coming from Brazil.

He is being held in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will experience a custody hearing on the next day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with digital surveillance.

They also requested that he be allowed to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he demanded regular treatment for lung conditions and other ailments.

Context of Sentencing

Bolsonaro was found guilty of leading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the presidential race to his ideological adversary, President Lula.

High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a plot which encompassed plans to assassinate Lula and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been managing the former president's case.

The conspiracy was prevented because it didn't receive the support of the military leaders. The current president was inaugurated without issue on January 1st, 2023.

But a week later, on the eighth of January, many his followers attacked and damaged official structures in the capital, Brasília.

The law enforcement intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.

The magistrates found that the rioters had been incited by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, bring back stability and return him to office.

At the time, the legal team called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also barred from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - eight years after the completion of his term.

The former president called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him running in the next presidential race.