Bolsonaro taken into custody after being considered a flight risk
Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a definite escape threat while under home confinement.
The ex-president was convicted of planning a government overthrow in the ninth month and sentenced more than over two decades in prison, but he was staying under house arrest pending appeals.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after recent developments were revealed.
This encompassed attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a call for a public vigil that could facilitate a chance to flee".
Court Filing Details Flight Fears
In a paperwork permitting the detention, the judge said information from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his getaway".
This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his child.
His offspring, Flávio, who holds office as a senator, called for a gathering of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.
The senator wrote on digital networks on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I invite you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the judge's determination was the chance of the former president's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of planning to request asylum through a consular facility", a declaration said.
The legal document emphasizes that the US embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist US President President Trump, leading him to impose a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
Bolsonaro is being held in a Federal Police station in the capital and will have a imprisonment assessment on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to permit him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also requested that he be allowed to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he demanded regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Background on Conviction
He was found guilty of leading a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he was defeated in the presidential race to his political opponent, Lula.
High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a scheme which included plans to assassinate the current president and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The scheme was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the support of the armed forces officials. His successor was inaugurated without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, many his followers invaded and destroyed government buildings in the federal district, Brasília.
The police took action and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.
The judges found that the protesters had been provoked by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, restore order and return him to office.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers 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 former president called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the next presidential race.