Jair Bolsonaro detained after being considered a risk of fleeing

The former Brazilian leader has been detained after authorities found he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.

The former head of state was sentenced of planning a government overthrow in last fall and given more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he remained under home detention pending legal challenges.

High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" were revealed.

This encompassed seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a invitation to a demonstration that could facilitate a possible escape.

Judicial Records Show Escape Risks

In a filing authorising the custody, the magistrate said information from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his escape.

This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the protest called by his offspring.

His son, his son Flávio, 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: Will you battle for your nation, or observe everything from your phone there on your sofa? I call on you to struggle with us."

He said the vigil would be so followers could offer prayers for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the possibility of the former president's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a background of arranging to seek refuge through a embassy office", a statement said.

The legal document highlights that the United States embassy in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from his dwelling.

International Reactions

Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative US President Donald Trump, causing him to enact a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.

Bolsonaro is being detained in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a custody hearing on the following day.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the Top Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.

They also requested that Bolsonaro be authorized to depart his residence for medical care, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other ailments.

Details of Guilty Verdict

The former president was found guilty of leading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the presidential race to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plot which encompassed plans to kill Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been overseeing his judicial proceedings.

The scheme was stopped because it didn't receive the endorsement of the military leaders. Lula was sworn in without problem on the first day of 2023.

But a seven days after, on January 8th, numerous his followers invaded and destroyed government buildings in the capital, the capital city.

The police took action and around 1,500 people were arrested.

The judges found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by him whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to step in, bring back stability and return him to office.

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

He was also barred from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.

The former president called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 presidential election.