Bolsonaro detained after being considered a escape threat
Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a definite escape threat while under home confinement.
The former head of state was convicted of plotting a government overthrow in last fall and sentenced more than over two decades in prison, but he remained under house arrest pending appeals.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after "new facts" were revealed.
This involved trying to remove his ankle monitor and a call for a public vigil that could "allow for a chance to flee".
Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns
In a filing authorising the arrest, the magistrate said intelligence from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his getaway".
This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his child.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.
The senator wrote on online platforms on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or see it all from your mobile device there on your sofa? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so followers could "pray for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the judge's decision was the possibility of Bolsonaro's transfer to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of organizing to seek refuge through a consular facility", a statement said.
The court filing underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, the capital city, is positioned around 13km from his dwelling.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist United States President President Trump, leading him to impose a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
He is being held in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will experience a imprisonment assessment on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to permit him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with digital surveillance.
They also requested that he be authorized to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he required regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other health problems.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was determined responsible of heading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plan which encompassed plans to murder the current president and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The scheme was prevented because it didn't receive the backing of the military leaders. The current president was sworn in without problem on the first day of 2023.
But a following week, on January 8th, many his followers stormed and vandalised public facilities in the national capital, the capital city.
The law enforcement stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The justices found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by him whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, bring back stability and return him to office.
At the moment, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from running for public office until twenty-sixty - eight years after the completion of his term.
The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 national vote.