🔗 Share this article

The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.

The ex-president was sentenced of orchestrating a armed takeover in last fall and given more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he continued under house arrest pending appeals.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a safety action after fresh information came to light.

This involved trying to remove his ankle monitor and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could enable a possible escape.

Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns

In a paperwork permitting the custody, the magistrate said data from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his flight.

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

His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his supporters near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on Friday: Will you battle for your country, or see it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I invite you to battle with us."

He said the vigil would be so backers could "pray for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of the judge's ruling was the potential of Bolsonaro's move to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a history of planning to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.

The court filing underscores that the United States embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is located around 8 miles from the former president's residence.

Global Responses

His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative American leader Donald Trump, causing him to impose a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.

Bolsonaro is being kept in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will undergo a custody hearing on the following day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to permit him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with digital surveillance.

They also asked that the former president be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he needed ongoing care for lung conditions and other illnesses.

Background on Conviction

The former president was found guilty of heading a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plot which involved plans to assassinate his opponent and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over the former president's case.

The conspiracy was thwarted because it failed to get the endorsement of the military leaders. Lula was sworn in without issue on the first day of 2023.

But a week later, on 8 January, numerous his followers invaded and destroyed government buildings in the federal district, Brazil's capital.

The law enforcement stepped in and around approximately 1,500 persons were detained.

The judges found that the rioters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, bring back stability and return him to office.

At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also barred from running for public office until 2060 - eight years later after the completion of his term.

The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him participating in the next presidential race.