The former Brazilian president taken into custody after being deemed a flight risk
Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.
The ex-president was sentenced of planning a military coup in last fall and given more than 27 years in jail, but he remained under house arrest pending legal challenges.
High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after "new facts" were revealed.
This involved attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a call for a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Escape Risks
In a document approving the detention, the judge said intelligence from the unit overseeing his home detention suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the surveillance device to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a legislator, called for a gathering of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.
The senator wrote on social media on last Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or see it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the judge's determination was the potential of Bolsonaro's "relocation to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a record of planning to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.
The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, Brasilia, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist US President Donald Trump, causing him to enact a 50% tariff on imports of Brazilian goods.
He is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will have a imprisonment assessment on the next day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to allow him to complete his entire prison term under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also petitioned that he be allowed to leave his home for medical care, saying he needed frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was convicted of heading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a scheme which involved plans to murder Lula and his running partner, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been overseeing his judicial proceedings.
The scheme was stopped because it failed to get the support of the army and air force commanders. Lula was took office without issue on January 1st, 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, many his backers attacked and damaged public facilities in the federal district, Brazil's capital.
The police stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to take action, restore order and bring him back to power.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence extremely harsh.
He was also barred from seeking elected position until 2060 - eight years after the end of his sentence.
The ex-leader called the court case a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him competing in the next presidential race.