Jair Bolsonaro taken into custody after being considered a flight risk
The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.
The former head of state was sentenced of planning a military coup in last fall and sentenced more than over two decades in incarceration, but he remained under house arrest pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the move to detain the elderly politician was a safety action after "new facts" came to light.
This encompassed trying to remove his ankle monitor and a summons to a public vigil that could "allow for a chance to flee".
Court Filing Details Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the arrest, the magistrate said information from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the gathering called by his child.
His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on the previous day: Will you battle for your homeland, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your couch? I invite you to battle with us."
He said the vigil would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the judge's decision was the chance of his move to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a background of organizing to request asylum through a consular facility", a statement said.
The judicial paperwork highlights that the United States embassy in the federal district, Brasilia, is positioned around 8 miles from his dwelling.
Global Responses
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist American leader President Trump, leading him to impose a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
He is being held in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a custody hearing on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with digital surveillance.
They also requested that Bolsonaro be allowed to leave his home for medical care, saying he required regular treatment for lung conditions and other ailments.
Background on Conviction
The former president was convicted of orchestrating a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a scheme which involved plans to kill the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing the former president's case.
The plot was prevented because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. His successor was inaugurated without problem on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, thousands of his backers stormed and vandalised public facilities in the capital, Brazil's capital.
The security forces stepped in and around approximately 1,500 persons were detained.
The judges found that the rioters had been incited by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to take action, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the moment, the legal team called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also barred from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The ex-leader called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 presidential election.