Jair Bolsonaro taken into custody after being declared a escape threat

Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.

The former head of state was convicted of orchestrating a armed takeover in last fall and given more than a 27-year term in jail, but he remained under home detention pending legal challenges.

High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a precautionary step after recent developments were revealed.

This involved trying to remove his tracking device and a invitation to a demonstration that could "allow for a chance to flee".

Court Filing Details Escape Risks

In a paperwork permitting the custody, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his flight.

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

His offspring, Flávio, who holds office as a senator, called for a meeting of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.

The senator wrote on digital networks on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or see it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I call on you to battle with us."

He said the vigil would be so backers could "pray for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the chance of Bolsonaro's "relocation to embassies near the home, considering that the probes revealed a record of arranging to ask for protection through a embassy office", a declaration said.

The legal document underscores that the US embassy in the national capital, Brasilia, is situated around 8 miles from his dwelling.

Global Responses

His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist American leader Trump, leading him to enact a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.

The former president is being detained in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a custody hearing on the following day.

Recent Judicial Appeals

It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the High Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with tracking devices.

They also petitioned that the former president be permitted to depart his residence for medical care, saying he required regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.

Context of Sentencing

The former president was convicted of leading a conspiracy aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the presidential race to his ideological adversary, President Lula.

Top judicial officials said that he was aware of a scheme which included plans to assassinate the current president and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been managing his judicial proceedings.

The conspiracy was prevented because it didn't receive the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. Lula was sworn in without incident on 1 January 2023.

But a week later, on 8 January, numerous his followers stormed and vandalised public facilities in the federal district, the capital city.

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

The justices found that the protesters had been encouraged by him whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to take action, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.

At the time, the legal team called the over 27-year sentence extremely harsh.

He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.

The one-time head of state called the court case a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him running in the 2026 presidential election.