🔗 Share this article

Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.

The ex-president was sentenced of orchestrating a armed takeover in September and sentenced more than over two decades in jail, but he remained under home detention pending court reviews.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a precautionary step after recent developments emerged.

This included trying to remove his tracking device and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a chance to flee".

Court Filing Details Escape Concerns

In a filing authorising the arrest, the magistrate said intelligence from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his escape.

This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his son.

His son, his son Flávio, who works as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his followers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.

The senator wrote on digital networks on Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I call on you to struggle with us."

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

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the magistrate's decision was the chance of Bolsonaro's move to embassies near the home, considering that the probes revealed a background of organizing to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.

The legal document underscores that the United States embassy in the capital, Brasilia, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from his dwelling.

International Reactions

Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative United States President President Trump, prompting him to impose a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.

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

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with tracking devices.

They also petitioned that the former president be permitted to leave his home for medical care, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other health problems.

Details of Guilty Verdict

The former president was determined responsible of heading a conspiracy aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the presidential race to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a scheme which involved plans to kill the current president and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over the former president's case.

The scheme was stopped because it didn't receive the endorsement of the military leaders. The current president was inaugurated without incident on January 1st, 2023.

But a following week, on the eighth of January, many his backers invaded and destroyed government buildings in the capital, the capital city.

The police stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.

The magistrates found that the protesters had been provoked by him whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, restore order and reinstate his authority.

At the moment, the legal team called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.

He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until 2060 - eight years after the end of his sentence.

The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the next presidential race.