🔗 Share this article

Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.

The ex-president was convicted of orchestrating a government overthrow in last fall and given more than 27 years in prison, but he was staying under confinement pending appeals.

Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" came to light.

This included trying to remove his tracking device and a call for a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a potential flight.

Court Filing Details Flight Fears

In a filing authorising the custody, the magistrate said data from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his flight.

This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his son.

His child, his son Flávio, who works as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your country, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your couch? I call on you to battle with us."

He said the vigil would be so supporters could offer prayers for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the potential of Bolsonaro's "relocation to embassies near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of organizing to request asylum through a embassy office", a statement said.

The court filing emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, Brasilia, is located around 8 miles from the former president's residence.

Global Responses

His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist American leader Donald Trump, leading him to implement a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.

He is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will experience a imprisonment assessment on the following day.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to authorize him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with digital surveillance.

They also petitioned that the former president be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he demanded regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other health problems.

Context of Sentencing

The former president was found guilty of leading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the national vote to his political opponent, Lula.

High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a plot which encompassed plans to kill the current president and his running partner, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.

The scheme was prevented because it didn't receive the support of the army and air force commanders. His successor was sworn in without problem on the first day of 2023.

But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, numerous his backers invaded and destroyed official structures in the capital, Brazil's capital.

The security forces intervened and around 1,500 people were arrested.

The magistrates found that the rioters had been incited by him whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, bring back stability and bring him back to power.

At the moment, the legal team called the 27 years and three months sentence extremely harsh.

He was also banned from running for public office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.

The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him running in the 2026 national vote.