Jair Bolsonaro detained after being declared a flight risk
The former Brazilian leader has been detained after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.
The former head of state was sentenced of orchestrating a government overthrow in September and given more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he continued under home detention pending legal challenges.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" came to light.
This involved trying to remove his tracking device and a invitation to a public vigil that could "allow for a possible escape.
Court Filing Details Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the detention, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the former leader's aim to disable the surveillance device to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the protest called by his child.
His offspring, Flávio, who serves as a legislator, called for a assembly of his backers near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.
The senator wrote on social media on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your couch? I call on you to battle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so backers could "pray for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our nation."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the possibility of Bolsonaro's move to embassies near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a background of arranging to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the United States embassy in the capital, Brasilia, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow right-wing populist American leader Trump, prompting him to impose a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.
He is being kept in a national police facility in the capital and will experience a detention review on the following day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with tracking devices.
They also requested that the former president be permitted to leave his home for medical care, saying he demanded ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Context of Sentencing
The former president was determined responsible of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he was aware of a scheme which encompassed plans to murder his opponent and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing the former president's case.
The plot was stopped because it didn't receive the endorsement of the armed forces officials. His successor was sworn in without incident on the first day of 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, numerous his backers stormed and vandalised public facilities in the federal district, the capital city.
The police stepped in and around 1,500 people were arrested.
The justices found that the rioters had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to take action, restore order and bring him back to power.
At the time, the legal team called the over 27-year sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also barred from campaigning for office until the year 2060 - eight years later after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The former president called the trial a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 presidential election.