🔗 Share this article

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

The former head of state was found guilty of planning a government overthrow in last fall and handed more than over two decades in prison, but he remained under confinement pending legal challenges.

High Court Judge the presiding justice said the action to imprison the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after recent developments were revealed.

This included seeking to disable his tracking device and a summons to a demonstration that could enable a possible escape.

Court Filing Details Escape Concerns

In a document approving the custody, Justice Moraes said information from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the surveillance device to ensure success in his escape.

This, it said, would be assisted by the confusion caused by the gathering called by his offspring.

His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your country, or observe everything from your phone there on your sofa? I call on you to battle with us."

He said the gathering would be so followers could offer prayers for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the magistrate's ruling was the potential of Bolsonaro's transfer to embassies near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of organizing to ask for protection through a embassy office", a declaration said.

The legal document underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, the capital city, is positioned around 13km from the former president's residence.

International Reactions

Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist United States President Donald Trump, prompting him to implement a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.

Bolsonaro is being held in a national police facility 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 permit him to complete his entire prison term under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.

They also requested that he be authorized to depart his residence for medical care, saying he required ongoing care for lung conditions and other ailments.

Details of Guilty Verdict

The former president was convicted of heading a conspiracy aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the 2022 election to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Top judicial officials said that he was aware of a plot which included plans to kill his opponent and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing the former president's case.

The plot was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the armed forces officials. The current president was sworn in without incident on the first day of 2023.

But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, many his followers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the national capital, the capital city.

The law enforcement stepped in and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.

The magistrates found that the protesters had been provoked by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, restore order and return him to office.

At the time, the legal team called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.

The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a targeted investigation" and said it was intended to stop him participating in the 2026 presidential election.