The former Brazilian president taken into custody after being deemed a escape threat
Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The one-time leader was sentenced of plotting a armed takeover in September 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 elderly politician was a precautionary step after fresh information emerged.
This encompassed attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Flight Fears
In a document approving the custody, the judge said intelligence from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the tracking monitor to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a legislator, called for a gathering of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.
His son wrote on online platforms on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or watch it all from your phone there on your sofa? I invite you to fight with us."
He said the vigil would be so followers could offer prayers for his health and for the return of democracy in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the potential of his "relocation to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of planning to request asylum through a consular facility", a declaration said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the United States embassy in the federal district, Brasilia, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
International Reactions
The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative United States President Donald Trump, prompting him to implement a fifty percent tax 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 following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to authorize 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 medical care, saying he needed regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was convicted of leading a conspiracy aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the presidential race to his left-wing rival, President Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plot which involved plans to assassinate the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The plot was thwarted because it didn't receive the endorsement of the military leaders. Lula was sworn in without issue on 1 January 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged government buildings in the national capital, Brazil's capital.
The security forces stepped in and around 1,500 people were arrested.
The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been provoked by him whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the moment, his attorneys called the over 27-year sentence extremely harsh.
He was also prohibited from running for public office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The former president called the court case a targeted investigation" and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 national vote.