Bolsonaro taken into custody after being deemed a escape threat
Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The former head of state was found guilty of planning a government overthrow in the ninth month and given more than over two decades in prison, but he was staying under home detention pending legal challenges.
High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after "new facts" came to light.
This included trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a summons to a public vigil that could facilitate a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, Justice Moraes said information from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the confusion caused by the protest called by his child.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a senator, called for a assembly of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on the previous day: Will you battle for your homeland, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your couch? I urge you to battle with us."
He said the vigil would be so followers could offer prayers for his health and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the potential of his move to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of organizing to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.
The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the US embassy in the federal district, Brazil's capital, is positioned around 13km from the former president's residence.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist US President President Trump, leading him to enact a 50% tariff on goods coming from Brazil.
The former president is being kept in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will experience a custody hearing on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also requested that Bolsonaro be permitted to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he required regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Details of Guilty Verdict
The former president was convicted of heading a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the national vote to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he was aware of a scheme which involved plans to kill his opponent and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The conspiracy was thwarted because it didn't receive the backing of the military leaders. The current president was sworn in without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a following week, on January 8th, thousands of his followers attacked and damaged official structures in the federal district, Brazil's capital.
The security forces took action and around approximately 1,500 persons were taken into custody.
The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been provoked by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, bring back stability and bring him back to power.
At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 presidential election.