The former Brazilian president taken into custody after being declared a risk of fleeing
Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The one-time leader was found guilty of planning a government overthrow in September and sentenced more than 27 years in incarceration, but he continued under house arrest pending court reviews.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the action to imprison the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" emerged.
This included trying to remove his tracking device and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could enable a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the arrest, the judge said data from the unit overseeing his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the surveillance device to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the protest called by his offspring.
His child, his son Flávio, who serves as a legislator, called for a gathering of his supporters near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your country, or see it all from your phone there on your couch? I call on you to fight with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's determination was the chance of Bolsonaro's move to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of planning to ask for protection through a embassy office", a declaration said.
The court filing highlights that the US embassy in the capital, the capital city, is located around 13km from his dwelling.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative US President President Trump, leading him to implement a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
He is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on the following day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the Top Court to permit him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.
They also requested that he be allowed to leave his home for medical care, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was found guilty of leading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Lula.
High Court judges said that he knew of a plot which included plans to murder his opponent and his running partner, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing the former president's case.
The conspiracy was stopped because it didn't receive the endorsement of the military leaders. The current president was took office without incident on the first day of 2023.
But a seven days after, on 8 January, thousands of his backers invaded and destroyed official structures in the federal district, BrasĂlia.
The security forces took action and around 1,500 people were arrested.
The magistrates found that the protesters had been encouraged by him whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, restore order and reinstate his authority.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from campaigning for office until 2060 - eight years later after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the legal proceedings a targeted investigation" and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the next presidential race.
