Jair Bolsonaro arrested after being declared a flight risk

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Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.

The former head of state was sentenced of plotting a armed takeover in last fall and sentenced more than 27 years in incarceration, but he was staying under confinement pending legal challenges.

Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a safety action after recent developments emerged.

This involved trying to remove his ankle monitor and a invitation to a demonstration that could enable a potential flight.

Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns

In a paperwork permitting the custody, the judge said information from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his escape.

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

His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a senator, called for a meeting of his backers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks 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 struggle with us."

He said the gathering would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our land."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of the magistrate's ruling was the chance of Bolsonaro's move to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a record of arranging to request asylum through a embassy office", a declaration said.

The judicial paperwork highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, Brasilia, is situated around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.

International Reactions

His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative US President Donald Trump, prompting him to enact a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.

He is being held in a national police facility in the capital and will have a imprisonment assessment on the following day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to permit him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with tracking devices.

They also asked that the former president be authorized to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he needed regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other health problems.

Background on Conviction

Bolsonaro was determined responsible of leading a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the presidential race to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plan which included plans to murder the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been managing the former president's case.

The plot was stopped because it failed to get the backing of the military leaders. The current president was took office without issue on the first day of 2023.

But a seven days after, on 8 January, numerous his backers stormed and vandalised public facilities in the national capital, Brasília.

The law enforcement intervened and around 1,500 people were arrested.

The justices found that the protesters had been incited by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, reestablish control and return him to office.

At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.

He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the conclusion of his imprisonment.

The former president called the court case a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the 2026 national vote.

Linda Turner
Linda Turner

A UK-based interior designer with over a decade of experience, specializing in modern minimalist aesthetics and sustainable home solutions.