🔗 Share this article

Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under domestic detention.

The one-time leader was found guilty of orchestrating a government overthrow in last fall and handed more than over two decades in jail, but he continued under house arrest pending court reviews.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice the presiding justice said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" came to light.

This included attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a possible escape.

Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks

In a paperwork permitting the detention, Justice Moraes said information from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's "intention to break the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his getaway".

This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the protest called by his offspring.

His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a legislator, called for a meeting of his supporters near his father's house to take place on the weekend.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your country, or watch it all from your phone there on your sofa? I invite you to struggle with us."

He said the demonstration would be so supporters could "pray for his health and for the return of democracy in our land."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the magistrate's decision was the possibility of his "relocation to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a record of organizing to seek refuge through a embassy office", a declaration said.

The court filing highlights that the United States embassy in the federal district, Brasilia, is located around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.

Global Responses

The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist United States President President Trump, prompting him to impose a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.

The former president is being detained in a Federal Police station in Brazil's capital city and will have a imprisonment assessment on the following day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to allow him to complete his entire prison term under home confinement, with tracking devices.

They also asked that the former president be permitted to depart his residence for medical care, saying he demanded ongoing care for lung conditions and other health problems.

Details of Guilty Verdict

He was found guilty of leading a conspiracy aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, President Lula.

High Court judges said that he was aware of a plan which included plans to assassinate the current president and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.

The plot was prevented because it failed to get the support of the military leaders. The current president was inaugurated without issue on the first day of 2023.

But a seven days after, on January 8th, numerous his followers invaded and destroyed government buildings in the capital, Brazil's capital.

The police intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.

The judges found that the rioters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to take action, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.

At the period, the legal team called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.

The one-time head of state called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him competing in the 2026 presidential election.