Bolsonaro taken into custody after being deemed a flight risk
Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The former head of state was sentenced of planning a military coup in the ninth month and given more than 27 years in incarceration, but he remained under house arrest pending appeals.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after fresh information were revealed.
This involved attempting to break his tracking device and a invitation to a public vigil that could facilitate a chance to flee".
Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears
In a document approving the custody, Justice Moraes said information from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his getaway".
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His offspring, Flávio, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his supporters near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on online platforms on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your country, or see it all from your phone there on your settee? I call on you to fight with us."
He said the demonstration would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our country."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the chance of his "relocation to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a record of planning to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.
The legal document emphasizes that the US embassy in the national capital, Brasilia, is located around 8 miles from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
His judicial problems have generated frustration from fellow conservative nationalist United States President Trump, causing him to enact a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods.
Bolsonaro is being held in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will experience a detention review on the next day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that he be allowed to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he needed regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other health problems.
Background on Conviction
He was convicted of leading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the national vote to his left-wing rival, President Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a plot which encompassed plans to murder Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.
The plot was prevented because it didn't receive the backing of the military leaders. His successor was inaugurated without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, numerous his followers invaded and destroyed official structures in the federal district, Brazil's capital.
The law enforcement stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The magistrates found that the protesters had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the moment, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also barred from running for public office until the year 2060 - eight years later after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him running in the next presidential race.