🔗 Share this article

Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.

The former head of state was found guilty of orchestrating a military coup in the ninth month and given more than 27 years in prison, but he was staying under house arrest pending legal challenges.

Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" came to light.

This encompassed attempting to break his ankle monitor and a invitation to a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a potential flight.

Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns

In a filing authorising the detention, Justice Moraes said data from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to secure accomplishment in his escape.

This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his offspring.

His son, Flávio, who works as a legislator, called for a assembly of his backers near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.

His son wrote on online platforms on last Friday: Will you battle for your country, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I invite you to battle with us."

He said the gathering would be so followers could "pray for his health and for the return of democracy in our nation."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the magistrate's determination was the potential of Bolsonaro's transfer to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of arranging to request asylum through a consular facility", a statement said.

The court filing underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around 13km from his dwelling.

Global Responses

His judicial problems have generated frustration from fellow conservative nationalist US President Trump, prompting him to impose a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.

Bolsonaro is being kept in a national police facility in the capital and will experience a imprisonment assessment on the next day.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the High Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with tracking devices.

They also petitioned that the former president be allowed to exit his dwelling for medical treatment, saying he needed frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.

Context of Sentencing

The former president was determined responsible of leading a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the national vote to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

High Court judges said that he knew of a plot which involved plans to assassinate the current president and his running partner, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been overseeing his judicial proceedings.

The scheme was thwarted because it failed to get the backing of the armed forces officials. Lula was sworn in without incident on 1 January 2023.

But a week later, on the eighth of January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised official structures in the federal district, Brazil's capital.

The security forces took action and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.

The justices found that the rioters had been provoked by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, restore order and bring him back to power.

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

He was also barred from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the conclusion of his imprisonment.

The former president called the legal proceedings a targeted investigation" and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the 2026 national vote.