🔗 Share this article

Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under domestic detention.

The one-time leader was found guilty of planning a armed takeover in the ninth month and given more than a 27-year term in jail, but he was staying under house arrest pending appeals.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" came to light.

This encompassed seeking to disable his electronic bracelet and a invitation to a demonstration that could "allow for a chance to flee".

Judicial Records Show Flight Fears

In a document approving the detention, Justice Moraes said data from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his getaway".

This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the protest called by his child.

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

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your sofa? I urge you to fight with us."

He said the demonstration would be so backers could offer prayers for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our nation."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of the judge's decision was the chance of the former president's "relocation to embassies near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a background of organizing to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.

The legal document highlights that the US embassy in the federal district, Brazil's capital, is positioned around 13km from his dwelling.

Global Responses

Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative US President Trump, leading him to implement a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.

He is being kept in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will have a custody hearing on the next day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the Supreme Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with tracking devices.

They also asked that he be allowed to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he required ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other health problems.

Context of Sentencing

The former president was convicted of orchestrating a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the national vote to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

High Court judges said that he knew of a plot which involved plans to kill the current president and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been presiding over the former president's case.

The scheme was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the backing of the army and air force commanders. His successor was inaugurated without problem on January 1st, 2023.

But a following week, on 8 January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged government buildings in the federal district, Brasília.

The law enforcement took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.

The magistrates found that the protesters had been encouraged by him whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, restore order and return him to office.

At the moment, the legal team called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.

He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until the year 2060 - eight years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.

The former president called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the next presidential race.