🔗 Share this article

Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.

The ex-president was found guilty of plotting a military coup in last fall and sentenced more than 27 years in incarceration, but he was staying under house arrest pending appeals.

High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after recent developments came to light.

This involved attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a summons to a public vigil that could enable a possible escape.

Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks

In a paperwork permitting the custody, the judge said data from the facility tracking 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 made easier by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.

His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.

His son wrote on online platforms on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your country, or see it all from your phone there on your couch? I call on you to battle with us."

He said the vigil would be so backers could "pray for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our nation."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the potential of his "relocation to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a background of planning to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.

The court filing highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, Brazil's capital, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from his dwelling.

International Reactions

The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative United States President President Trump, prompting him to implement a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.

He is being held in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will experience a imprisonment assessment on the next day.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with tracking devices.

They also requested that the former president be permitted to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he needed regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.

Background on Conviction

He was convicted of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the presidential race to his left-wing rival, President Lula.

High Court judges said that he was aware of a scheme which included plans to murder the current president and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been managing his judicial proceedings.

The scheme was prevented because it failed to get the backing of the military leaders. Lula was took office without incident on the first day of 2023.

But a week later, on the eighth of January, many his backers stormed and vandalised public facilities in the national capital, Brasília.

The security forces intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.

The judges found that the demonstrators had been incited by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to step in, reestablish control and return him to office.

At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.

He was also banned from running for public office until the year 2060 - eight years later after the conclusion of his imprisonment.

The former president called the trial a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the 2026 presidential election.