Bolsonaro arrested after being considered a flight risk

The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.

The one-time leader was found guilty of orchestrating a military coup in September and handed more than 27 years in prison, but he continued under confinement pending court reviews.

Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" emerged.

This encompassed attempting to break his ankle monitor and a call for a public vigil that could enable a potential flight.

Judicial Records Show Flight Fears

In a filing authorising the custody, the judge said information from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his flight.

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

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

The senator wrote on social media on the previous day: Will you battle for your country, or see it all from your smartphone there on your sofa? I call on you to struggle with us."

He said the vigil would be so supporters could "pray for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our country."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the chance of Bolsonaro's transfer to embassies near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a record of organizing to seek refuge through a consular facility", a announcement said.

The legal document highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, Brazil's capital, is located around 13km from the former president's residence.

Worldwide Consequences

The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist American leader Donald Trump, leading him to impose a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.

The former president is being kept in a national police facility in Brasilia and will experience a custody hearing on Sunday.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on the previous day that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.

They also petitioned that Bolsonaro be authorized to depart his residence for medical care, saying he demanded regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other ailments.

Context of Sentencing

Bolsonaro was found guilty of heading a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the national vote to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

High Court judges said that he was aware of a plan which encompassed plans to murder the current president and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing the former president's case.

The plot was prevented because it didn't receive the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. His successor was sworn in without incident on January 1st, 2023.

But a week later, on the eighth of January, numerous his backers attacked and damaged public facilities in the federal district, Brazil's capital.

The security forces took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.

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

At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.

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

The ex-leader called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the next presidential race.