🔗 Share this article

The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.

The ex-president was convicted of planning a government overthrow in the ninth month and handed more than over two decades in jail, but he remained under home detention pending legal challenges.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after recent developments came to light.

This included trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a invitation to a demonstration that could facilitate a chance to flee".

Court Filing Details Escape Risks

In a document approving the custody, the magistrate said intelligence from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his getaway".

This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the protest called by his child.

His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a senator, called for a gathering of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or observe everything from your phone there on your sofa? I invite you to fight with us."

He said the vigil would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our land."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the magistrate's decision was the possibility of Bolsonaro's move to embassies near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of organizing to request asylum through a embassy office", a statement said.

The legal document underscores that the United States embassy in the capital, the capital city, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from his dwelling.

International Reactions

The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist US President Donald Trump, causing him to implement a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.

Bolsonaro is being kept in a national police facility in Brasilia and will have a custody hearing on the next day.

Recent Judicial Appeals

It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the Supreme Court to allow him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with tracking devices.

They also petitioned that Bolsonaro be permitted to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he needed ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other health problems.

Details of Guilty Verdict

He was found guilty of heading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the national vote to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Top judicial officials said that he was aware of a plot which encompassed plans to murder Lula and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.

The conspiracy was stopped because it failed to get the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. His successor was took office without issue on the first day of 2023.

But a following week, on January 8th, thousands of his followers attacked and damaged official structures in the federal district, the capital city.

The law enforcement took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.

The judges found that the rioters had been provoked by him whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, bring back stability and return him to office.

At the moment, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also banned from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.

The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him participating in the next presidential race.