The former Brazilian president arrested after being declared a risk of fleeing
Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under domestic detention.
The ex-president was sentenced of planning a government overthrow in last fall and given more than over two decades in jail, but he was staying under home detention pending court reviews.
High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after fresh information emerged.
This included attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could enable a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the custody, the magistrate said intelligence from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the tracking monitor to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his son.
His child, his son Flávio, who holds office as a legislator, called for a assembly of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on social media on last Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or see it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the possibility of his "relocation to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of arranging to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.
The court filing highlights that the United States embassy in the national capital, the capital city, is positioned around 8 miles from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist United States President Donald Trump, leading him to enact a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
He is being held in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will have a custody hearing on Sunday.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the Top Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also asked that he be allowed to depart his residence for medical care, saying he demanded regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Details of Guilty Verdict
He was determined responsible of leading a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the national vote to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plan which included plans to kill Lula and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.
The scheme was prevented because it didn't receive the endorsement of the military leaders. His successor was inaugurated without issue on 1 January 2023.
But a following week, on 8 January, many Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised government buildings in the national capital, the capital city.
The law enforcement took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The judges found that the demonstrators had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to take action, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.
At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.
He was also prohibited from running for public office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the completion of his term.
The former president called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the next presidential race.