🔗 Share this article

Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.

The one-time leader was found guilty of plotting a government overthrow in last fall and handed more than over two decades in incarceration, but he was staying under house arrest pending court reviews.

Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after fresh information came to light.

This included attempting to break his tracking device and a invitation to a demonstration that could enable a chance to flee".

Court Filing Details Escape Concerns

In a document approving the detention, the judge said intelligence from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his flight.

This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his son.

His child, his son Flávio, who works as a legislator, called for a meeting of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.

His son wrote on digital networks on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or see it all from your phone there on your settee? I invite you to battle with us."

He said the vigil would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our nation."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of the judge's decision was the possibility of Bolsonaro's move to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a background of planning to request asylum through a consular facility", a announcement said.

The legal document emphasizes that the United States embassy in the capital, the capital city, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.

Global Responses

The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist US President President Trump, prompting him to enact a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.

He is being held in a Federal Police station in the capital and will experience a custody hearing on the following day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to authorize him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with digital surveillance.

They also petitioned that the former president be authorized to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he required ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.

Details of Guilty Verdict

He was found guilty of heading a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plot which included plans to murder his opponent and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.

The scheme was prevented because it failed to get the support of the armed forces officials. The current president was inaugurated without problem on January 1st, 2023.

But a week later, on the eighth of January, numerous his backers attacked and damaged official structures in the national capital, the capital city.

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

The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been provoked by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to take action, bring back stability and return him to office.

At the time, the legal team called the over 27-year sentence unreasonably severe".

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

The one-time head of state called the trial a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the 2026 presidential election.