🔗 Share this article

The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.

The former head of state was sentenced of orchestrating a armed takeover in September and sentenced more than 27 years in incarceration, but he continued under house arrest pending court reviews.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after recent developments were revealed.

This involved seeking to disable his tracking device and a call for a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a potential flight.

Judicial Records Show Escape Risks

In a filing authorising the detention, Justice Moraes said information from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to secure accomplishment in his escape.

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

His son, Flávio, who holds office as a senator, called for a assembly of his followers near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.

His son wrote on social media on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your country, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your sofa? I invite you to struggle with us."

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

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the judge's determination was the possibility of Bolsonaro's "relocation to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of organizing to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.

The court filing highlights that the US embassy in the federal district, Brazil's capital, is positioned around 13km from his dwelling.

Global Responses

Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative American leader President Trump, prompting him to implement a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.

Bolsonaro is being kept in a national police facility in Brasilia and will undergo a detention review on Sunday.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to allow him to complete his entire prison term under house arrest, with tracking devices.

They also requested that the former president be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical treatment, saying he needed frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other ailments.

Background on Conviction

He was determined responsible of leading a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Lula.

Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a scheme which encompassed plans to murder his opponent and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing his judicial proceedings.

The conspiracy was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the backing of the army and air force commanders. Lula was sworn in without problem on the first day of 2023.

But a week later, on January 8th, thousands of his followers stormed and vandalised public facilities in the capital, Brasília.

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

The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been incited by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, bring back stability and bring him back to power.

At the moment, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.

He was also barred from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.

The former president called the court case a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 national vote.