Bolsonaro taken into custody after being declared a flight risk
Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities determined he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.
The one-time leader was sentenced of planning a military coup in September and sentenced more than a 27-year term in prison, but he continued under confinement pending court reviews.
High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after recent developments emerged.
This involved attempting to break his tracking device and a summons to a public vigil that could "allow for a possible escape.
Court Filing Details Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the custody, Justice Moraes said information from the unit overseeing his home detention suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to secure accomplishment in his escape.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the protest called by his son.
His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a senator, called for a meeting of his followers near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.
His son wrote on social media on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your sofa? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could offer prayers for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the chance of Bolsonaro's "relocation to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a history of organizing to request asylum through a embassy office", a statement said.
The legal document underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, Brasilia, is positioned around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.
Worldwide Consequences
His judicial problems have generated frustration from fellow conservative nationalist US President Donald Trump, leading him to enact a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.
Bolsonaro is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will undergo a detention review on Sunday.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on the previous day that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to permit him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with tracking devices.
They also asked that he be authorized to leave his home for medical care, saying he needed regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was convicted of orchestrating a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the national vote to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Top judicial officials said that he knew of a scheme which encompassed plans to kill Lula and his running partner, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The plot was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the backing of the military leaders. Lula was inaugurated without problem on January 1st, 2023.
But a seven days after, on 8 January, many his backers attacked and damaged government buildings in the capital, Brasília.
The law enforcement stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.
The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by him whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The ex-leader called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the 2026 presidential election.