🔗 Share this article

Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a definite escape threat while under home confinement.

The one-time leader was convicted of plotting a armed takeover in the ninth month and sentenced more than over two decades in incarceration, but he remained under confinement pending appeals.

Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after fresh information came to light.

This encompassed attempting to break his tracking device and a invitation to a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a chance to flee".

Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks

In a paperwork permitting the detention, Justice Moraes said information from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the surveillance device to ensure success in his flight.

This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.

His offspring, his son Flávio, who works as a legislator, called for a assembly of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.

The senator wrote on social media on last Friday: Will you battle for your country, or watch it all from your phone there on your couch? I urge you to battle with us."

He said the gathering would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his health and for the return of democracy in our country."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of the magistrate's determination was the potential of his transfer to foreign missions near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a record of organizing to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.

The court filing emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is located around 13km from his dwelling.

International Reactions

His judicial problems have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative US President Donald Trump, prompting him to impose a 50% tariff on imports of Brazilian goods.

He is being held in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will undergo a custody hearing on Sunday.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.

They also requested that Bolsonaro be permitted to leave his home for medical care, saying he needed ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other ailments.

Background on Conviction

He was convicted of leading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the 2022 election to his political opponent, President Lula.

Top judicial officials said that he knew of a scheme which included plans to assassinate the current president and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.

The conspiracy was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the military leaders. The current president was sworn in without problem on 1 January 2023.

But a following week, on 8 January, thousands of his followers stormed and vandalised public facilities in the capital, Brazil's capital.

The security forces intervened and around 1,500 people were arrested.

The judges found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to take action, restore order and bring him back to power.

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

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

The former president called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him competing in the 2026 presidential election.