Jair Bolsonaro arrested after being declared a escape threat
Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.
The ex-president was convicted of orchestrating a government overthrow in September and handed more than over two decades in jail, but he continued under confinement pending appeals.
High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a precautionary step after fresh information emerged.
This included attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a call for a public vigil that could "allow for a chance to flee".
Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the arrest, the judge said information from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's "intention to break the tracking monitor to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the confusion caused by the gathering called by his son.
His offspring, his son Flávio, who works as a legislator, called for a meeting of his followers near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your country, or see it all from your phone there on your settee? I urge you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the judge's decision was the chance of his transfer to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of organizing to ask for protection through a consular facility", a statement said.
The legal document highlights that the United States embassy in the capital, the capital city, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist US President Donald Trump, prompting him to implement a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
The former president is being held in a Federal Police station in Brazil's capital city and will experience a custody hearing on the next day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the High Court to allow him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with tracking devices.
They also asked that Bolsonaro be authorized to leave his home for healthcare, saying he needed ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other health problems.
Details of Guilty Verdict
The former president was found guilty of heading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a scheme which included plans to murder Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.
The conspiracy was stopped because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the military leaders. The current president was took office without problem on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, numerous his backers attacked and damaged government buildings in the national capital, Brasília.
The law enforcement took action and around 1,500 people were detained.
The magistrates found that the protesters had been incited by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, bring back stability and bring him back to power.
At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The former president called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him running in the next presidential race.