🔗 Share this article

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

The one-time leader was found guilty of planning a military coup in September and sentenced more than 27 years in jail, but he was staying under house arrest pending legal challenges.

Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" were revealed.

This involved trying to remove his ankle monitor and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a possible escape.

Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears

In a filing authorising the custody, the magistrate said information from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the surveillance device to ensure success in his escape.

This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his child.

His son, Flávio, who serves as a legislator, called for a assembly of his followers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.

The senator wrote on digital networks on last Friday: Will you battle for your homeland, or observe everything from your phone there on your sofa? I call on you to battle with us."

He said the gathering would be so supporters could "pray for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the potential of his "relocation to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a history of arranging to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.

The legal document highlights that the United States embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.

Worldwide Consequences

His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist American leader Donald Trump, causing him to impose a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.

The former president is being detained in a Federal Police station in Brazil's capital city and will experience a detention review on the following day.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with digital surveillance.

They also requested that Bolsonaro be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he required regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other ailments.

Details of Guilty Verdict

The former president was convicted of orchestrating a conspiracy 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 scheme which included plans to kill Lula and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over the former president's case.

The conspiracy was prevented because it failed to get the endorsement of the armed forces officials. His successor was took office without issue on the first day of 2023.

But a following week, on January 8th, many Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged government buildings in the federal district, Brasília.

The security forces intervened and around 1,500 people were detained.

The magistrates found that the rioters had been incited by Bolsonaro whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to take action, restore order and return him to office.

At the period, the legal team called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also barred from running for public office until 2060 - 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 designed to prevent him participating in the next presidential race.