🔗 Share this article

Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under domestic detention.

The former head of state was sentenced of orchestrating a government overthrow in the ninth month and handed more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he was staying under home detention pending legal challenges.

Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a safety action after fresh information were revealed.

This involved seeking to disable his tracking device and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could enable a chance to flee".

Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns

In a filing authorising the detention, the judge said intelligence from the unit overseeing his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his escape.

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

His offspring, his son Flávio, who holds office as a legislator, called for a assembly of his followers near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I invite you to battle with us."

He said the demonstration would be so supporters could "pray for his health and for the return of democracy in our country."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the potential of the former president's "relocation to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of arranging to seek refuge through a embassy office", a declaration said.

The court filing underscores that the US embassy in the capital, Brasilia, is located around 13km from the former president's residence.

Worldwide Consequences

The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative American leader President Trump, causing him to impose a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.

The former president is being held in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on the next day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the Supreme Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with digital surveillance.

They also petitioned that Bolsonaro be permitted to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he needed ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other ailments.

Details of Guilty Verdict

The former president was found guilty of orchestrating a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the national vote to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

High Court judges said that he was aware of a plan which included plans to kill his opponent and his running partner, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing the former president's case.

The conspiracy was stopped because it failed to get the support of the army and air force commanders. The current president was inaugurated without incident on the first day of 2023.

But a seven days after, on 8 January, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised government buildings in the national capital, Brasília.

The security forces took action and around approximately 1,500 persons were taken into custody.

The justices found that the rioters had been incited by him whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, reestablish control and bring him back to power.

At the moment, his attorneys called the over 27-year sentence extremely harsh.

He was also barred from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - eight years later after the completion of his term.

The former president called the court case a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him participating in the 2026 presidential election.