🔗 Share this article

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

The ex-president was convicted of planning a armed takeover in the ninth month and handed more than over two decades in prison, but he remained under confinement pending court reviews.

Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a precautionary step after fresh information emerged.

This encompassed seeking to disable his electronic bracelet and a call for a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a chance to flee".

Court Filing Details Escape Risks

In a filing authorising the custody, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his getaway".

This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his child.

His son, Flávio, who works as a senator, called for a meeting of his supporters near his father's house to take place on the weekend.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on online platforms on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or watch it all from your phone there on your couch? I invite you to fight with us."

He said the vigil would be so backers could offer prayers for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our nation."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the chance of his transfer to embassies near the residence, 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 federal district, Brasilia, is situated around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.

International Reactions

His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative US President Trump, prompting him to implement a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.

The former president is being held in a national police facility in the capital and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.

They also asked that the former president be allowed to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he required ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other ailments.

Details of Guilty Verdict

The former president was found guilty of heading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the presidential race to his left-wing rival, President Lula.

Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a scheme which encompassed plans to assassinate the current president and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing the former president's case.

The scheme was stopped because it failed to get the support of the army and air force commanders. His successor was took office without issue on 1 January 2023.

But a seven days after, on January 8th, thousands of his backers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the national capital, Brazil's capital.

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

The magistrates found that the rioters had been provoked by him whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to take action, restore order and return him to office.

At the moment, his attorneys called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.

He was also banned from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the conclusion of his imprisonment.

The ex-leader called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 national vote.