Bolsonaro taken into custody after being considered a flight risk

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

The one-time leader was convicted of plotting a government overthrow in September and handed more than 27 years in incarceration, but he was staying under house arrest pending appeals.

Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after recent developments came to light.

This included seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a invitation to a public vigil that could enable a possible escape.

Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns

In a filing authorising the detention, the judge said intelligence from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his getaway".

This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his son.

His offspring, Flávio, who holds office as a senator, called for a meeting of his followers near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.

His son wrote on online platforms on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or see it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I urge you to struggle with us."

He said the gathering would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our land."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the chance of Bolsonaro's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a record of planning to request asylum through a embassy office", a announcement said.

The judicial paperwork highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, Brasilia, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.

International Reactions

Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative US President Trump, prompting him to enact a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.

The former president is being kept in a national police facility in Brasilia and will experience a imprisonment assessment on the next day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.

They also requested that Bolsonaro be permitted to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he needed regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other health problems.

Background on Conviction

The former president was determined responsible of leading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

High Court judges said that he was aware of a plan which encompassed plans to kill the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.

The plot was stopped because it didn't receive the backing of the armed forces officials. The current president was sworn in without issue on the first day of 2023.

But a seven days after, on January 8th, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged public facilities in the national capital, the capital city.

The police took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.

The magistrates found that the protesters had been incited by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, restore order and return him to office.

At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.

He was also barred from campaigning for office until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.

The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him participating in the next presidential race.