🔗 Share this article

Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.

The former head of state was found guilty of plotting a armed takeover in the ninth month and sentenced more than 27 years in incarceration, but he remained under house arrest pending appeals.

Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after recent developments emerged.

This involved seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a invitation to a demonstration that could "allow for a possible escape.

Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks

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 aim to disable the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his getaway".

This, it said, would be "facilitated by the confusion caused by the gathering called by his child.

His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a senator, called for a gathering of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.

The senator wrote on online platforms on last Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your settee? I call on you to fight with us."

He said the gathering would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the magistrate's decision was the chance of the former president's transfer to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a record of arranging to seek refuge through a consular facility", a announcement said.

The legal document emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, the capital city, is located around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.

Global Responses

His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative US President President Trump, leading him to enact a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.

He is being held in a national police facility in Brasilia and will have a custody hearing on the next day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the Top Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under home confinement, with digital surveillance.

They also requested that the former president be allowed to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he required regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other health problems.

Background on Conviction

Bolsonaro was convicted of orchestrating a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the national vote to his left-wing rival, Lula.

Top judicial officials said that he was aware of a scheme which encompassed plans to murder the current president and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing the former president's case.

The scheme was stopped because it failed to get the endorsement of the military leaders. Lula was took office without issue on 1 January 2023.

But a following week, on 8 January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed public facilities in the capital, Brazil's capital.

The law enforcement took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.

The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been provoked by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.

At the moment, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.

He was also barred from campaigning for office until 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 aimed at blocking him running in the next presidential race.