🔗 Share this article

Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.

The ex-president was found guilty of orchestrating a military coup in last fall and sentenced more than over two decades in jail, but he was staying under home detention pending appeals.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice the presiding justice said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after recent developments emerged.

This encompassed trying to remove his ankle monitor and a summons to a demonstration that could enable a chance to flee".

Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns

In a paperwork permitting the detention, the magistrate said data from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the former leader's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his getaway".

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

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

His son wrote on social media on Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or see it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I urge you to struggle with us."

He said the gathering would be so followers could offer prayers for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our land."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the judge's decision was the chance of Bolsonaro's move to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of planning to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.

The legal document underscores that the US embassy in the capital, the capital city, is positioned around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.

Worldwide Consequences

His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow right-wing populist United States President Donald Trump, leading him to implement a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.

The former president is being held in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will have a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on the previous day that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.

They also asked that he be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical treatment, saying he required frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other ailments.

Background on Conviction

He was convicted of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the presidential race to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a scheme which encompassed plans to kill the current president and his running partner, Alckmin, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.

The conspiracy was prevented because it didn't receive the support of the armed forces officials. His successor was inaugurated without issue on January 1st, 2023.

But a seven days after, on 8 January, thousands of his followers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the national capital, Brazil's capital.

The security forces intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.

The magistrates found that the rioters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, reestablish control and return him to office.

At the moment, the legal team called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.

He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.

The one-time head of state called the trial a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 national vote.