🔗 Share this article

Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.

The one-time leader was sentenced of plotting a government overthrow in last fall and sentenced more than over two decades in prison, but he continued under confinement pending legal challenges.

High Court Judge the presiding justice said the action to imprison the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after recent developments were revealed.

This involved seeking to disable his tracking device 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, the judge said information from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the surveillance device to ensure success in his escape.

This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his child.

His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or observe everything from your phone there on your settee? I urge you to struggle with us."

He said the demonstration would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of the magistrate's determination was the chance of Bolsonaro's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a background of organizing to seek refuge through a consular facility", a announcement said.

The court filing highlights that the United States embassy in the national capital, the capital city, is positioned around 13km from the former president's residence.

Worldwide Consequences

The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow right-wing populist American leader Donald Trump, causing him to impose a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.

The former president is being kept in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on the next day.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the High Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.

They also requested that the former president be permitted to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he required regular treatment for lung conditions and other illnesses.

Background on Conviction

He was found guilty of heading a conspiracy aimed at retaining his authority after he was defeated in the presidential race to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a scheme which included plans to kill Lula and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been presiding over the former president's case.

The plot was prevented because it didn't receive the support of the army and air force commanders. The current president was inaugurated without incident on January 1st, 2023.

But a week later, on 8 January, thousands of his followers attacked and damaged public facilities in the capital, Brasília.

The law enforcement stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.

The judges found that the rioters had been incited by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, restore order and bring him back to power.

At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also banned from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - eight years later after the conclusion of his imprisonment.

The former president called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the next presidential race.