Jair Bolsonaro detained after being declared a flight risk
Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The one-time leader was sentenced of orchestrating a government overthrow in September and given more than over two decades in jail, but he continued under house arrest pending court reviews.
High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a precautionary step after recent developments emerged.
This encompassed trying to remove his tracking device and a call for a demonstration that could facilitate a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, the magistrate said data from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president'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 demonstration called by his offspring.
His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a legislator, called for a gathering of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or see it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I invite you to battle with us."
He said the vigil would be so followers could "pray for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the judge's decision was the potential of the former president's "relocation to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a background of planning to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.
The court filing underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, Brasilia, is located around 13km from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative US President Donald Trump, leading him to implement a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
Bolsonaro is being held in a Federal Police station in the capital and will undergo a custody hearing on Sunday.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the Supreme Court to allow him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.
They also petitioned that the former president be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he needed regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was convicted of leading a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the national vote to his political opponent, Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a scheme which encompassed plans to murder Lula and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The plot was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the backing of the army and air force commanders. The current president was sworn in without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a following week, on 8 January, numerous his followers invaded and destroyed government buildings in the national capital, Brazil's capital.
The police intervened and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.
The magistrates found that the protesters had been provoked by him whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to step in, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the moment, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - eight years later after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the next presidential race.