🔗 Share this article

The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.

The ex-president was sentenced of planning a military coup in last fall and sentenced more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he continued under house arrest pending appeals.

High Court Judge the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after "new facts" came to light.

This involved trying to remove his tracking device and a summons to a public vigil that could enable a potential flight.

Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears

In a paperwork permitting the arrest, the judge said information from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the tracking monitor to ensure success in his flight.

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

His offspring, Flávio, who serves as a senator, called for a assembly of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.

His son wrote on digital networks on last Friday: Will you battle for your homeland, or see it all from your phone there on your settee? I invite you to fight with us."

He said the gathering would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the potential of his "relocation to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a record of organizing to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.

The judicial paperwork underscores that the US embassy in the federal district, Brasilia, is located around 8 miles from the former president's residence.

Worldwide Consequences

Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow conservative nationalist United States President Trump, leading him to enact a 50% tariff on imports of Brazilian goods.

Bolsonaro is being held in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will undergo a custody hearing on the next day.

Recent Judicial Appeals

It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the High Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.

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

Background on Conviction

The former president was convicted of orchestrating a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

High Court judges said that he knew of a scheme which involved plans to murder Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.

The plot was stopped because it failed to get the backing of the military leaders. Lula was took office without problem on the first day of 2023.

But a week later, on 8 January, many his followers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the national capital, Brasília.

The law enforcement intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.

The justices found that the protesters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, restore order and bring him back to power.

At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence unreasonably severe".

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

The one-time head of state called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him participating in the next presidential race.