Jair Bolsonaro taken into custody after being deemed a escape threat
The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.
The ex-president was found guilty of plotting a armed takeover in the ninth month and handed more than 27 years in incarceration, but he continued under home detention pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after fresh information were revealed.
This involved attempting to break his tracking device and a invitation to a supporters' gathering that could enable a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the custody, the judge said information from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's plan to remove the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his escape.
This, it said, would be assisted by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a senator, called for a assembly of his followers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.
His son wrote on digital networks on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your country, or see it all from your phone there on your sofa? I urge you to fight with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could offer prayers for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the possibility of the former president's "relocation to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a history of planning to ask for protection through a embassy office", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the US embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is located around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
His judicial problems have generated frustration from fellow conservative nationalist United States President Donald Trump, leading him to enact a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
Bolsonaro is being held in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will undergo a custody hearing on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with tracking devices.
They also petitioned that Bolsonaro be authorized to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he demanded regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.
Background on Conviction
The former president was found guilty of orchestrating a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plan which included plans to kill Lula and his running partner, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been overseeing the former president's case.
The conspiracy was thwarted because it failed to get the support of the army and air force commanders. The current president was took office without problem on the first day of 2023.
But a seven days after, on January 8th, many his followers attacked and damaged public facilities in the national capital, the capital city.
The security forces intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The magistrates found that the protesters had been incited by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, bring back stability and bring him back to power.
At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also barred from campaigning for office until 2060 - eight years later after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a targeted investigation" and said it was intended to stop him running in the next presidential race.
