🔗 Share this article

Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.

The one-time leader was sentenced of plotting a military coup in the ninth month and handed more than 27 years in incarceration, but he was staying under confinement pending legal challenges.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice the presiding justice said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after fresh information emerged.

This involved trying to remove his tracking device and a call for a demonstration that could facilitate a possible escape.

Court Filing Details Flight Fears

In a paperwork permitting the detention, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the former leader's plan to remove the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his flight.

This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his child.

His child, Flávio, who holds office as a legislator, called for a gathering of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.

The senator wrote on digital networks on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or see it all from your phone there on your sofa? I invite you to battle with us."

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

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of the magistrate's decision was the chance of his move to embassies near the home, considering that the probes revealed a background of planning to seek refuge through a consular facility", a statement said.

The judicial paperwork highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, the capital city, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.

Worldwide Consequences

His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist United States President Trump, leading him to impose a 50% tariff on goods coming from Brazil.

He is being kept in a national police facility in Brasilia and will undergo a detention review on the next day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with tracking devices.

They also asked that Bolsonaro be permitted to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other illnesses.

Background on Conviction

Bolsonaro was convicted of leading a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Lula.

High Court judges said that he knew of a scheme which encompassed plans to kill the current president and his running partner, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been overseeing his judicial proceedings.

The conspiracy was stopped because it failed to get the support of the armed forces officials. His successor was sworn in without incident on the first day of 2023.

But a week later, on 8 January, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged government buildings in the capital, Brasília.

The law enforcement intervened and around 1,500 people were detained.

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

At the period, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.

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

The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the 2026 presidential election.