🔗 Share this article

Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.

The former head of state was convicted of plotting a armed takeover in the ninth month and sentenced more than over two decades in prison, but he continued under confinement pending appeals.

High Court Judge the presiding justice said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" came to light.

This included attempting to break his ankle monitor and a summons to a public vigil that could "allow for a possible escape.

Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears

In a paperwork permitting the detention, the judge said information from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the tracking monitor to ensure success in his flight.

This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his offspring.

His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a legislator, called for a assembly of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.

His son wrote on social media on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I call on you to struggle with us."

He said the demonstration would be so supporters could "pray for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of the judge's ruling was the potential of Bolsonaro's move to embassies near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of planning to request asylum through a consular facility", a declaration said.

The legal document highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, the capital city, is positioned around 8 miles from the former president's residence.

International Reactions

The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist United States President President Trump, prompting him to implement a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports.

Bolsonaro is being detained in a national police facility in Brasilia and will have a imprisonment assessment on the following day.

Recent Judicial Appeals

It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme 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 exit his dwelling for medical treatment, saying he needed ongoing care for lung conditions and other ailments.

Context of Sentencing

The former president was found guilty of leading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a scheme which involved plans to assassinate the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.

The plot was thwarted because it didn't receive the support of the army and air force commanders. Lula was took office without incident on 1 January 2023.

But a following week, on the eighth of January, numerous his followers attacked and damaged government buildings in the federal district, Brazil's capital.

The security forces intervened and around approximately 1,500 persons were taken into custody.

The magistrates found that the rioters had been incited by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.

At the moment, the legal team called the 27 years and three months sentence extremely harsh.

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

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