🔗 Share this article

Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities determined he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.

The one-time leader was convicted of plotting a government overthrow in the ninth month and handed more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he remained under home detention pending legal challenges.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice the presiding justice said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after recent developments emerged.

This included attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a summons to a public vigil that could "allow for a possible escape.

Court Filing Details Escape Concerns

In a document approving the custody, the magistrate said intelligence from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his getaway".

This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the protest called by his offspring.

His offspring, his son Flávio, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on last Friday: Will you battle for your homeland, or watch it all from your phone there on your sofa? I urge you to fight with us."

He said the vigil would be so supporters could "pray for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the possibility of the former president's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a history of organizing to seek refuge through a embassy office", a announcement said.

The legal document underscores that the US embassy in the federal district, Brasilia, is situated around 8 miles from his dwelling.

Worldwide Consequences

His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative American leader President Trump, leading him to implement a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.

The former president is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on the next day.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with electronic monitoring.

They also requested that the former president be allowed to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he required regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.

Details of Guilty Verdict

The former president was determined responsible of leading a conspiracy aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the national vote to his ideological adversary, President Lula.

Supreme Court justices said that he was aware 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 top judicial official who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.

The conspiracy was thwarted because it failed to get the support of the military leaders. The current president was sworn in without problem on January 1st, 2023.

But a week later, on January 8th, thousands of his backers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the capital, Brazil's capital.

The law enforcement stepped in and around 1,500 people were arrested.

The judges found that the demonstrators had been incited by him whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to take action, reestablish control and return him to office.

At the time, his attorneys called the over 27-year sentence extremely harsh.

He was also banned from running for public office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the conclusion of his imprisonment.

The ex-leader called the trial a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 national vote.