The former Brazilian president arrested after being declared a flight risk
Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under domestic detention.
The ex-president was convicted of orchestrating a government overthrow in the ninth month and handed more than 27 years in prison, but he continued under home detention pending legal challenges.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" emerged.
This involved trying to remove his tracking device and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a chance to flee".
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a document approving the detention, the magistrate said data from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's aim to disable the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the gathering called by his child.
His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
His son wrote on online platforms 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 struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our nation."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the possibility of Bolsonaro's "relocation to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of arranging to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the United States embassy in the federal district, Brasilia, is located around 8 miles from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative US President Trump, causing him to enact a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
He is being kept in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a detention review on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with digital surveillance.
They also requested that the former president be permitted to exit his dwelling for medical treatment, saying he required regular treatment for lung conditions and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was found guilty of heading a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the presidential race to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a scheme which involved plans to kill his opponent and his running partner, Alckmin, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been overseeing the former president's case.
The plot was stopped because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the armed forces officials. Lula was inaugurated without issue on January 1st, 2023.
But a following week, on 8 January, thousands of his backers attacked and damaged government buildings in the federal district, Brazil's capital.
The security forces stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The justices found that the demonstrators had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, restore order and return him to office.
At the period, the legal team called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also prohibited from running for public office until 2060 - eight years later after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him running in the next presidential race.