🔗 Share this article

Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities found he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under domestic detention.

The ex-president was convicted of plotting a military coup in September and sentenced more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he remained under confinement pending court reviews.

High Court Judge the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a safety action after "new facts" came to light.

This involved trying to remove his tracking device and a call for a supporters' gathering that could enable a potential flight.

Court Filing Details Flight Fears

In a paperwork permitting the detention, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his escape.

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

His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a senator, called for a gathering of his followers near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.

His son wrote on social media on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your country, or see it all from your phone there on your settee? I call on you to struggle with us."

He said the demonstration would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the chance of the former president's move to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of planning to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.

The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, the capital city, is positioned around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.

Worldwide Consequences

The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist United States President President Trump, leading him to enact a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.

He is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will have a custody hearing on the next day.

Latest Court Petitions

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

They also asked that the former president be allowed to leave his home for healthcare, saying he needed frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other ailments.

Background on Conviction

The former president was convicted of orchestrating a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the national vote to his ideological adversary, Lula.

Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a scheme which included plans to assassinate the current president and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been managing his judicial proceedings.

The scheme was prevented because it failed to get the backing of the armed forces officials. The current president was took office without issue on 1 January 2023.

But a week later, on 8 January, numerous his backers attacked and damaged official structures in the national capital, Brasília.

The security forces took action and around 1,500 people were arrested.

The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been provoked by him whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to step in, bring back stability and bring him back to power.

At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also barred from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the completion of his term.

The one-time head of state called the trial a targeted investigation" and said it was intended to stop him competing in the next presidential race.