Bolsonaro detained after being deemed a flight risk
Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The ex-president was sentenced of orchestrating a military coup in last fall and given more than over two decades in jail, but he was staying under house arrest pending appeals.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a preventative measure after fresh information emerged.
This involved seeking to disable his tracking device and a summons to a demonstration that could facilitate a chance to flee".
Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the detention, Justice Moraes said information from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the tracking monitor to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the protest called by his son.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.
His son wrote on social media on the previous day: Will you battle for your nation, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I invite you to struggle with us."
He said the vigil would be so backers could "pray for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our land."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the magistrate's decision was the potential of the former president's move to embassies near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a background of arranging to seek refuge through a consular facility", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the United States embassy in the national capital, the capital city, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow conservative nationalist United States President Donald Trump, causing him to implement a 50% tariff on imports of Brazilian goods.
He is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will experience a detention review on the following day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to authorize him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also asked that he be permitted to leave his home for medical care, saying he required frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was convicted of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the national vote to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
High Court judges said that he was aware of a plot which encompassed plans to murder the current president and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The conspiracy was prevented because it didn't receive the endorsement of the military leaders. Lula was inaugurated without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, many Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised public facilities in the federal district, the capital city.
The police took action and around 1,500 people were arrested.
The judges found that the rioters had been encouraged by him whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.
At the period, the legal team called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from campaigning for office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years 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 running in the next presidential race.