🔗 Share this article

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

The ex-president was convicted of orchestrating a armed takeover in last fall and handed more than over two decades in incarceration, but he continued under confinement pending legal challenges.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" came to light.

This included seeking to disable his electronic bracelet and a summons to a public vigil that could facilitate 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 ex-president's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to secure accomplishment in his escape.

This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his child.

His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a senator, called for a meeting of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.

The senator wrote on social media on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I call on you to fight with us."

He said the demonstration would be so followers could "pray for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our land."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of the judge's decision was the possibility of Bolsonaro's transfer to embassies near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a history of arranging to ask for protection through a embassy office", a statement said.

The legal document emphasizes that the US embassy in the capital, Brasilia, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.

Global Responses

Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow conservative nationalist American leader President Trump, leading him to impose a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods.

Bolsonaro is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will experience a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.

Recent Judicial Appeals

It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with tracking devices.

They also requested that he be permitted to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he needed frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other ailments.

Context of Sentencing

The former president was found guilty of heading a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the presidential race to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Top judicial officials said that he knew of a scheme which included plans to assassinate his opponent and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been managing the former president's case.

The conspiracy was stopped because it couldn't obtain the backing of the military leaders. His successor was sworn in without problem on the first day of 2023.

But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, thousands of his followers invaded and destroyed public facilities in the capital, Brazil's capital.

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

The justices found that the demonstrators had been provoked by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, restore order and bring him back to power.

At the moment, his attorneys called the over 27-year sentence extremely harsh.

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

The one-time head of state called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the 2026 national vote.