Jair Bolsonaro detained after being deemed a flight risk
Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.
The former head of state was convicted of planning a government overthrow in the ninth month and handed more than 27 years in prison, but he remained under home detention pending appeals.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after "new facts" emerged.
This included attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a summons to a public vigil that could "allow for a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a document approving the detention, the magistrate said data from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the surveillance device to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
His offspring, his son Flávio, who works as a senator, called for a gathering of his supporters near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.
The senator wrote on social media on last Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I invite you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so followers could "pray for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the possibility of the former president's transfer to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a background of planning to ask for protection through a embassy office", a announcement said.
The court filing highlights that the US embassy in the capital, Brasilia, is situated around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow conservative nationalist US President President Trump, causing him to implement a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
The former president is being held in a national police facility in Brasilia and will undergo a custody hearing on Sunday.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that Bolsonaro be permitted to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he demanded regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was convicted of heading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the national vote to his political opponent, Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he was aware of a scheme which included plans to murder his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing the former president's case.
The scheme was thwarted because it didn't receive the endorsement of the armed forces officials. The current president was sworn in without problem on 1 January 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, numerous his followers stormed and vandalised public facilities in the national capital, Brasília.
The law enforcement took action and around approximately 1,500 persons were detained.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been provoked by him whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to step in, bring back stability and return him to office.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also prohibited from running for public office until the year 2060 - eight years after the completion of his term.
The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 presidential election.