🔗 Share this article

The former Brazilian leader has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.

The former head of state was sentenced of orchestrating a armed takeover in September and given more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he was staying under house arrest pending legal challenges.

Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after fresh information came to light.

This encompassed seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a call for a public vigil that could "allow for a potential flight.

Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns

In a filing authorising the arrest, Justice Moraes said data from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his flight.

This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his child.

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.

The senator wrote on online platforms on the previous day: Will you battle for your homeland, or see it all from your phone there on your couch? I invite you to fight with us."

He said the gathering would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our land."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the judge's determination was the potential of his transfer to embassies near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a history of planning to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.

The legal document underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, Brasilia, is situated around 8 miles from the former president's residence.

Global Responses

His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative US President Trump, leading him to impose a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.

Bolsonaro is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will undergo a detention review on the following day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the High Court to permit him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with digital surveillance.

They also requested that the former president be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he required frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.

Details of Guilty Verdict

He was found guilty of heading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, President Lula.

Top judicial officials said that he was aware of a plan which involved plans to kill the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.

The conspiracy was prevented because it couldn't obtain the support of the military leaders. Lula was inaugurated without problem on the first day of 2023.

But a seven days after, on January 8th, thousands of his backers stormed and vandalised official structures in the national capital, the capital city.

The security forces stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.

The judges found that the rioters had been incited by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, restore order and bring him back to power.

At the time, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.

He was also prohibited 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 running in the 2026 national vote.