Jair Bolsonaro taken into custody after being deemed a risk of fleeing
Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.
The ex-president was found guilty of planning a military coup in last fall and handed more than a 27-year term in jail, but he remained under home detention pending appeals.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" came to light.
This included attempting to break his tracking device and a summons to a demonstration that could "allow for a chance to flee".
Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks
In a paperwork permitting the custody, Justice Moraes said information from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the protest called by his child.
His child, Flávio, who works as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his supporters near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on Friday: Will you battle for your homeland, or see it all from your phone there on your sofa? I urge you to battle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could offer prayers for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the judge's decision was the chance of the former president's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of organizing to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the United States embassy in the federal district, Brasilia, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from his dwelling.
Global Responses
His judicial problems have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative United States President Donald Trump, causing him to implement a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports.
The former president is being kept in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will experience a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the Top Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.
They also petitioned that the former president be permitted to leave his home for healthcare, saying he required regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
The former president was convicted of heading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the national vote to his political opponent, Lula.
High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a scheme which encompassed plans to kill the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was thwarted because it failed to get the support of the army and air force commanders. The current president was inaugurated without problem on the first day of 2023.
But a following week, on January 8th, numerous Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged official structures in the federal district, Brasília.
The law enforcement intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.
The judges found that the demonstrators had been provoked by him whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the period, the legal team called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from running for public office until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The one-time head of state called the trial a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him competing in the next presidential race.