Jair Bolsonaro arrested after being declared a flight risk
The former Brazilian leader has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.
The ex-president was found guilty of plotting a military coup in September and handed more than 27 years in prison, but he remained under house arrest pending appeals.
High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after "new facts" came to light.
This included trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a call for a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the arrest, the magistrate said information from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's aim to disable the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the protest called by his offspring.
His son, his son Flávio, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.
The senator wrote on social media on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your sofa? I call on you to fight with us."
He said the demonstration would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the chance of his transfer to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a history of planning to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, Brasilia, is located around 8 miles from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist US President President Trump, prompting him to implement a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
The former president is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will undergo a custody hearing on the following day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the Supreme Court to permit him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.
They also petitioned that the former president be allowed to leave his home for medical care, saying he demanded ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Details of Guilty Verdict
He was determined responsible of leading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the national vote to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he was aware of a scheme which encompassed plans to assassinate his opponent and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The plot was thwarted because it didn't receive the endorsement of the armed forces officials. His successor was inaugurated without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, many his backers invaded and destroyed public facilities in the capital, Brazil's capital.
The police stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.
The judges found that the rioters had been incited by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to take action, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from running for public office until the year 2060 - eight years later after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The former president called the court case a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him running in the next presidential race.