Jair Bolsonaro arrested after being considered a flight risk

Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.

The one-time leader was sentenced of planning a armed takeover in the ninth month and handed more than 27 years in prison, but he continued under home detention pending court reviews.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after fresh information came to light.

This involved attempting to break his tracking device and a invitation to a public vigil that could enable a potential flight.

Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns

In a document approving the arrest, Justice Moraes said data from the unit overseeing his home detention 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 disorder caused by the protest called by his child.

His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a senator, called for a gathering of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.

The senator wrote on digital networks on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your country, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your sofa? I urge you to battle with us."

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

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of the judge's decision was the potential of his "relocation to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a history of planning to request asylum through a consular facility", a declaration said.

The legal document underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, the capital city, is situated around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.

International Reactions

The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist United States President Donald Trump, leading him to enact a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports.

He is being held in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will experience a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.

Recent Judicial Appeals

It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to authorize him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with digital surveillance.

They also asked that Bolsonaro be allowed to depart his residence for medical care, saying he required regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.

Context of Sentencing

Bolsonaro was determined responsible of leading a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plot which encompassed plans to assassinate the current president and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.

The scheme was prevented because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. Lula was inaugurated without incident on the first day of 2023.

But a following week, on January 8th, many his backers invaded and destroyed public facilities in the capital, Brazil's capital.

The security forces took action and around 1,500 people were detained.

The judges found that the rioters had been provoked by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, restore order and bring him back to power.

At the time, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also banned from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years after the completion of his term.

The ex-leader called the court case a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him participating in the 2026 national vote.