Jair Bolsonaro taken into custody after being declared a flight risk

Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities determined he posed a definite escape threat while under home confinement.

The former head of state was found guilty of orchestrating a military coup in the ninth month and handed more than over two decades in incarceration, but he remained under home detention pending court reviews.

High Court Judge the presiding justice said the move to detain the elderly politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" emerged.

This involved attempting to break his tracking device and a summons to a demonstration that could enable a possible escape.

Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks

In a filing authorising the custody, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the tracking monitor to ensure success in his getaway".

This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his child.

His child, 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 online platforms on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your settee? I call on you to battle with us."

He said the gathering would be so followers could "pray for his health and for the return of democracy in our country."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the judge's ruling was the potential of Bolsonaro's move to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of planning to ask for protection through a embassy office", a declaration said.

The court filing underscores that the United States embassy in the capital, Brasilia, is located around 13km from the former president's residence.

Worldwide Consequences

His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative American leader Trump, causing him to enact a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods.

He is being held in a national police facility in the capital and will experience a detention review on the following day.

Recent Judicial Appeals

It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the High Court to authorize him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with digital surveillance.

They also asked that he be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he required frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other health problems.

Context of Sentencing

He was convicted of heading a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the national vote to his ideological adversary, Lula.

Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a scheme which involved plans to assassinate Lula and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.

The plot was stopped because it didn't receive the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. Lula was inaugurated without incident on 1 January 2023.

But a following week, on 8 January, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed public facilities in the capital, the capital city.

The law enforcement stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.

The judges found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by him whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, restore order and bring him back to power.

At the period, his attorneys called the over 27-year sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.

The former president called the trial a targeted investigation" and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the 2026 national vote.