🔗 Share this article

Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities found he posed a definite escape threat while under home confinement.

The ex-president was found guilty of planning a military coup in the ninth month and given more than a 27-year term in jail, but he remained under house arrest pending legal challenges.

High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after fresh information were revealed.

This encompassed attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a potential flight.

Judicial Records Show Escape Risks

In a document approving the arrest, the magistrate said intelligence from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's aim to disable the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his getaway".

This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.

His child, Flávio, who works as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.

The senator wrote on online platforms on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your country, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I invite you to struggle with us."

He said the demonstration would be so backers could "pray for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our country."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the judge's determination was the possibility of his "relocation to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a background of arranging to request asylum through a consular facility", a declaration said.

The legal document emphasizes that the United States embassy in the capital, Brasilia, is positioned around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.

Worldwide Consequences

The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative US President President Trump, prompting him to impose a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.

He is being held in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will have a imprisonment assessment on the following day.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with tracking devices.

They also asked that the former president be allowed to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he demanded ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.

Background on Conviction

The former president was found guilty of orchestrating a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the presidential race to his left-wing rival, President Lula.

Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plan which encompassed plans to assassinate his opponent and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing his judicial proceedings.

The conspiracy was prevented because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the armed forces officials. His successor was inaugurated without issue on 1 January 2023.

But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, many Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised official structures in the capital, Brasília.

The police stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.

The magistrates found that the rioters had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, restore order and reinstate his authority.

At the period, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also barred from campaigning for office until 2060 - eight years later after the end of his sentence.

The ex-leader called the court case a targeted investigation" and said it was intended to stop him participating in the 2026 presidential election.