🔗 Share this article

Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.

The one-time leader was convicted of plotting a armed takeover in last fall and given more than over two decades in jail, but he continued under confinement pending appeals.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a precautionary step after fresh information came to light.

This encompassed attempting to break his tracking device and a summons to a public vigil that could "allow for a potential flight.

Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears

In a document approving the arrest, the judge said information from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his flight.

This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the protest called by his son.

His son, Flávio, who serves as a legislator, called for a gathering of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.

The senator wrote on social media on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your sofa? I invite you to battle with us."

He said the vigil would be so supporters could "pray for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of the judge's ruling was the possibility of his "relocation to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a history of arranging to request asylum through a consular facility", a announcement said.

The court filing highlights that the United States embassy in the capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.

Worldwide Consequences

His judicial problems have generated frustration from fellow conservative nationalist American leader President Trump, causing him to impose a 50% tariff on imports of Brazilian goods.

The former president is being held in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will have a detention review on Sunday.

Recent Judicial Appeals

It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to permit him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with digital surveillance.

They also requested that the former president be authorized to leave his home for healthcare, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other illnesses.

Background on Conviction

The former president was determined responsible of orchestrating a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the 2022 election to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a scheme which encompassed plans to murder the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.

The scheme was thwarted because it didn't receive the endorsement of the military leaders. The current president was took office without problem on January 1st, 2023.

But a following week, on January 8th, thousands of his followers stormed and vandalised official structures in the national capital, Brasília.

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

The magistrates found that the protesters had been encouraged by him whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.

At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.

He was also barred from running for public office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the end of his sentence.

The one-time head of state called the court case a targeted investigation" and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the next presidential race.