🔗 Share this article

Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under domestic detention.

The former head of state was convicted of orchestrating a government overthrow in last fall and sentenced more than 27 years in jail, but he was staying under house arrest pending legal challenges.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after recent developments came to light.

This involved seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a call for a demonstration that could "allow for a possible escape.

Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns

In a filing authorising the arrest, the magistrate said information from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his getaway".

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

His child, Flávio, who serves as a legislator, called for a gathering of his followers near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.

His son wrote on online platforms on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or see it all from your phone there on your couch? I invite you to fight with us."

He said the vigil would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the judge's ruling was the chance of Bolsonaro's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a record of planning to ask for protection through a consular facility", a declaration said.

The legal document emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.

Global Responses

His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative American leader Trump, prompting him to impose a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.

Bolsonaro is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will experience a imprisonment assessment on the following day.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.

They also requested that he be allowed to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he demanded ongoing care for lung conditions and other ailments.

Details of Guilty Verdict

Bolsonaro was convicted of orchestrating a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his political opponent, Lula.

High Court judges said that he knew of a scheme which included plans to assassinate Lula and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been managing the former president's case.

The scheme was prevented because it couldn't obtain the support of the military leaders. The current president was sworn in without problem on January 1st, 2023.

But a following week, on 8 January, numerous his followers stormed and vandalised official structures in the federal district, Brasília.

The security forces intervened and around approximately 1,500 persons were taken into custody.

The justices 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 bring him back to power.

At the time, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.

He was also banned from running for public office until the year 2060 - eight years after the end of his sentence.

The one-time head of state called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 presidential election.