🔗 Share this article

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

The one-time leader was found guilty of orchestrating a government overthrow in the ninth month and sentenced more than over two decades in prison, but he remained under confinement pending appeals.

High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after fresh information were revealed.

This involved attempting to break his ankle monitor and a call for a public vigil that could enable a possible escape.

Court Filing Details Flight Fears

In a paperwork permitting the custody, the magistrate said information from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's aim to disable the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his escape.

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

His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a senator, called for a gathering of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.

His son wrote on digital networks on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I urge you to battle with us."

He said the gathering would be so followers could "pray for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the potential of Bolsonaro's transfer to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of planning to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.

The judicial paperwork underscores that the US embassy in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is positioned around 13km from his dwelling.

Worldwide Consequences

The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative US President President Trump, causing him to implement a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.

Bolsonaro is being held in a Federal Police station in the capital and will have a detention review on the next day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with digital surveillance.

They also petitioned that he be permitted to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he required regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.

Context of Sentencing

The former president was found guilty of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the presidential race to his left-wing rival, President Lula.

Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a scheme which involved plans to murder Lula and his running partner, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.

The plot was prevented because it failed to get the support of the army and air force commanders. The current president was took office without incident on the first day of 2023.

But a following week, on 8 January, thousands of his backers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the capital, Brazil's capital.

The law enforcement stepped in and around 1,500 people were arrested.

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

At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also barred from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - eight years after the completion of his term.

The former president called the trial a targeted investigation" and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the 2026 national vote.