🔗 Share this article

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

The one-time leader was sentenced of orchestrating a armed takeover in last fall and sentenced more than a 27-year term in prison, but he continued under home detention pending court reviews.

Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a safety action after fresh information came to light.

This involved trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a summons to a public vigil that could facilitate a possible escape.

Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns

In a paperwork permitting the detention, the judge said intelligence from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his getaway".

This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the protest called by his son.

His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a senator, called for a gathering of his followers near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your sofa? I invite you to battle with us."

He said the gathering would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the judge's determination was the potential of his transfer to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of organizing to ask for protection through a embassy office", a announcement said.

The judicial paperwork underscores that the US embassy in the capital, Brasilia, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from his dwelling.

Global Responses

His judicial problems have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist American leader Donald Trump, leading him to implement a 50% tariff on imports of Brazilian goods.

He is being detained in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a custody hearing on Sunday.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on the previous day that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with tracking devices.

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

Context of Sentencing

Bolsonaro was found guilty of heading a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the presidential race to his political opponent, President Lula.

Top judicial officials said that he knew of a plot which encompassed plans to murder Lula and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.

The conspiracy was thwarted because it didn't receive the backing of the armed forces officials. The current president was took office without problem on January 1st, 2023.

But a seven days after, on 8 January, many his followers invaded and destroyed government buildings in the national capital, Brasília.

The security forces took action and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.

The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been provoked by him whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.

At the moment, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also prohibited from running for public office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.

The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the next presidential race.