🔗 Share this article

Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.

The former head of state was convicted of plotting a armed takeover in last fall and sentenced more than 27 years in jail, but he remained under house arrest pending appeals.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after recent developments came to light.

This included trying to remove his tracking device and a call for a public vigil that could "allow for a potential flight.

Court Filing Details Escape Concerns

In a filing authorising the custody, Justice Moraes said information from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the tracking monitor to ensure success in his flight.

This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his son.

His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a senator, called for a assembly of his backers near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.

The senator wrote on social media on last Friday: Will you battle for your country, or see it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I invite you to fight with us."

He said the vigil would be so followers could "pray for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our nation."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the possibility of the former president's transfer to embassies near the home, considering that the probes revealed a record of planning to ask for protection through a embassy office", a statement said.

The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, the capital city, is located around 13km from his dwelling.

Global Responses

His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative US President Donald Trump, leading him to enact a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.

The former president is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will experience a imprisonment assessment on the next day.

Recent Judicial Appeals

It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the Top Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under house arrest, with tracking devices.

They also petitioned that the former president be permitted to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he required frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other ailments.

Details of Guilty Verdict

He was found guilty of leading a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a scheme which encompassed plans to assassinate his opponent and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.

The plot was stopped because it couldn't obtain the backing of the army and air force commanders. The current president was inaugurated without incident on January 1st, 2023.

But a week later, on January 8th, thousands of his followers stormed and vandalised official structures in the national capital, the capital city.

The law enforcement stepped in and around 1,500 people were arrested.

The judges found that the demonstrators had been incited by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, reestablish control and bring him back to power.

At the time, his attorneys called the over 27-year sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also barred from running for public office until the year 2060 - eight years later after the completion of his term.

The one-time head of state called the court case a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the 2026 presidential election.