Bolsonaro detained after being deemed a risk of fleeing
Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.
The former head of state was convicted of plotting a military coup in September and handed more than 27 years in prison, but he continued under home detention pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the move to detain the elderly politician was a precautionary step after recent developments were revealed.
This encompassed trying to remove his tracking device and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a potential flight.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the arrest, the magistrate said data from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's aim to disable the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his flight.
This, it said, would be assisted by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.
His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a senator, called for a assembly of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on online platforms on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your country, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your sofa? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the chance of Bolsonaro's transfer to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a history of arranging to request asylum through a consular facility", a declaration said.
The legal document highlights that the US embassy in the federal district, Brazil's capital, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.
Worldwide Consequences
His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist US President Donald Trump, causing him to enact a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods.
The former president is being held in a national police facility in the capital and will experience a detention review on Sunday.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to permit him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that Bolsonaro be authorized to leave his home for medical care, saying he required ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
The former president was convicted of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the national vote to his ideological adversary, Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he knew of a plan which included plans to kill Lula and his running partner, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.
The conspiracy was prevented because it didn't receive the backing of the armed forces officials. His successor was took office without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, thousands of his backers invaded and destroyed government buildings in the federal district, the capital city.
The law enforcement took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The justices found that the protesters had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to take action, bring back stability and return him to office.
At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - eight years after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him participating in the 2026 national vote.