The former Brazilian president taken into custody after being declared a flight risk
The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The ex-president was sentenced of orchestrating a military coup in September and sentenced more than a 27-year term in jail, but he continued under house arrest pending legal challenges.
High Court Judge the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after fresh information came to light.
This involved trying to remove his tracking device and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears
In a document approving the custody, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's "intention to break the surveillance device to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His son, his son Flávio, who works 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: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your settee? I urge you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could "pray for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's determination was the potential of the former president's move to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of arranging to seek refuge through a embassy office", a declaration said.
The court filing emphasizes that the US embassy in the capital, Brasilia, is located around 8 miles from the former president's residence.
Worldwide Consequences
Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative US President Donald Trump, leading him to impose a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
Bolsonaro is being held in a national police facility in Brasilia and will experience a detention review on the following day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the Top Court to permit him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with tracking devices.
They also requested that he be authorized to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he required regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Background on Conviction
The former president was convicted of leading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the presidential race to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Top judicial officials said that he knew of a plot which encompassed plans to kill Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The plot was prevented because it failed to get the support of the military leaders. Lula was took office without incident on 1 January 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed government buildings in the capital, BrasÃlia.
The law enforcement stepped in and around 1,500 people were arrested.
The judges found that the protesters had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the time, the legal team called the over 27-year sentence extremely harsh.
He was also banned from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The former president called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 presidential election.