🔗 Share this article

The former Brazilian leader has been arrested after authorities found he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.

The former head of state was sentenced of plotting a government overthrow in the ninth month and sentenced more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he continued under house arrest pending appeals.

High Court Judge the presiding justice said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a safety action after "new facts" emerged.

This involved seeking to disable his tracking device and a summons to a public vigil that could "allow for a possible escape.

Court Filing Details Escape Concerns

In a filing authorising the custody, the magistrate said data from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his flight.

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

His son, Flávio, who holds office as a legislator, called for a meeting of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.

His son wrote on social media on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your country, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your couch? I urge you to fight with us."

He said the gathering would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the magistrate's decision was the potential of the former president's "relocation to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of arranging to seek refuge through a consular facility", a announcement said.

The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the United States embassy in the capital, the capital city, is situated around 8 miles from the former president's residence.

International Reactions

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

The former president is being held in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will experience a imprisonment assessment on the following day.

Recent Judicial Appeals

It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with tracking devices.

They also petitioned that Bolsonaro be authorized to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he required frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.

Context of Sentencing

Bolsonaro was convicted of orchestrating a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the national vote to his ideological adversary, President Lula.

Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a scheme which encompassed plans to assassinate Lula and his running partner, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing his judicial proceedings.

The scheme was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the armed forces officials. The current president was inaugurated without issue on the first day of 2023.

But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged public facilities in the federal district, Brasília.

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

The judges found that the demonstrators had been provoked by him whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to take action, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.

At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.

He was also barred from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the completion of his term.

The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the 2026 national vote.