🔗 Share this article

The former Brazilian leader has been arrested after authorities found he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.

The one-time leader was convicted of planning a armed takeover in the ninth month and sentenced more than a 27-year term in jail, but he was staying under confinement pending legal challenges.

High Court Judge the presiding justice said the move to detain the elderly politician was a safety action after fresh information were revealed.

This involved trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a chance to flee".

Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears

In a filing authorising the detention, the judge said intelligence from the unit overseeing his home detention suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his escape.

This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his child.

His child, his son Flávio, who serves as a legislator, called for a gathering of his followers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.

His son wrote on digital networks on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your sofa? I call on you to struggle with us."

He said the demonstration would be so supporters could "pray for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the chance of Bolsonaro's move to embassies near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of planning to seek refuge through a embassy office", a announcement said.

The legal document emphasizes that the United States embassy in the national capital, Brasilia, is situated around 13km from the former president's residence.

Global Responses

Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative US President Trump, leading him to enact a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.

Bolsonaro is being held in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will experience a detention review on the next day.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the Top Court to permit him to complete his entire prison term under home confinement, with digital surveillance.

They also asked that he be authorized to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he needed ongoing care for lung conditions and other health problems.

Background on Conviction

The former president was convicted of leading a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the presidential race to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plot which included plans to assassinate the current president and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.

The scheme was stopped because it couldn't obtain the support of the army and air force commanders. The current president was took office 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 security forces intervened and around 1,500 people were arrested.

The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been incited by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, bring back stability and return him to office.

At the time, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.

He was also prohibited from running for public office until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.

The ex-leader called the trial a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the 2026 presidential election.