🔗 Share this article

Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.

The ex-president was convicted of plotting a military coup in the ninth month and given more than over two decades in prison, but he was staying under house arrest pending legal challenges.

High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after "new facts" emerged.

This involved seeking to disable his tracking device and a call for a demonstration that could enable a chance to flee".

Judicial Records Show Flight Fears

In a paperwork permitting the custody, the judge said data from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to secure accomplishment in his escape.

This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his son.

His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a legislator, called for a meeting of his followers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.

His son wrote on digital networks on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I call on you to fight with us."

He said the demonstration would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his health and for the return of democracy in our country."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the chance of the former president's move to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a history of planning to request asylum through a consular facility", a statement said.

The legal document highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, Brazil's capital, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from his dwelling.

International Reactions

Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist US President President Trump, causing him to enact a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.

He is being held in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a detention review on Sunday.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the High Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with digital surveillance.

They also requested that the former president be authorized to depart his residence for medical care, saying he demanded ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.

Context of Sentencing

Bolsonaro was convicted of leading a conspiracy aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the national vote to his ideological adversary, President Lula.

Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plan which involved plans to kill his opponent and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.

The plot was prevented because it didn't receive the support of the military leaders. The current president was inaugurated without issue on January 1st, 2023.

But a following week, on January 8th, numerous his backers attacked and damaged government buildings in the national capital, the capital city.

The law enforcement intervened and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.

The justices found that the rioters had been incited by him whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, restore order and return him to office.

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

He was also banned from running for public office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.

The one-time head of state called the court case a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him running in the next presidential race.