🔗 Share this article

Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.

The ex-president was sentenced of plotting a armed takeover in last fall and sentenced more than a 27-year term in jail, but he continued under home detention pending appeals.

High Court Judge the presiding justice said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" emerged.

This encompassed trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a invitation to a demonstration that could facilitate a chance to flee".

Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks

In a paperwork permitting the arrest, Justice Moraes said data from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his getaway".

This, it said, would be assisted by the confusion caused by the protest called by his son.

His offspring, his son Flávio, who works as a legislator, called for a meeting of his backers near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or observe everything from your phone there on your settee? I urge you to fight with us."

He said the demonstration would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the chance of the former president's "relocation to embassies near the home, considering that the probes revealed a record of arranging to ask for protection through a consular facility", a announcement said.

The judicial paperwork highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, Brazil's capital, is located around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.

Global Responses

His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow right-wing populist US President Trump, leading him to enact a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.

The former president is being held in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will experience a custody hearing on the next day.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to authorize him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with tracking devices.

They also requested that the former president be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he demanded regular treatment for lung conditions and other illnesses.

Background on Conviction

The former president was determined responsible of orchestrating a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the national vote to his ideological adversary, Lula.

High Court judges said that he knew of a scheme which encompassed plans to kill his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been managing his judicial proceedings.

The plot was stopped because it couldn't obtain the backing of the army and air force commanders. The current president was took office without issue on the first day of 2023.

But a following week, on January 8th, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised official structures in the national capital, Brazil's capital.

The law enforcement took action and around 1,500 people were detained.

The magistrates found that the rioters had been provoked by him whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to step in, reestablish control and bring him back to power.

At the moment, the legal team called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.

He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.

The ex-leader called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him participating in the 2026 presidential election.