Jair Bolsonaro arrested after being deemed a flight risk

Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.

The ex-president was sentenced of plotting a armed takeover in last fall and handed more than a 27-year term in jail, but he remained under confinement pending court reviews.

Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after fresh information emerged.

This included attempting to break his ankle monitor and a call for a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a potential flight.

Judicial Records Show Escape Risks

In a filing authorising the custody, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to secure accomplishment in his flight.

This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his son.

His son, Flávio, who works as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.

His son wrote on digital networks on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I call on you to battle with us."

He said the gathering would be so followers could offer prayers for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the chance of his "relocation to embassies near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a record of planning to seek refuge through a consular facility", a statement said.

The legal document highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, the capital city, is positioned around 13km from the former president's residence.

International Reactions

The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow right-wing populist American leader Trump, leading him to impose a 50% tariff on imports of Brazilian goods.

The former president is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will have a imprisonment assessment on the next day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with tracking devices.

They also asked that he be allowed to leave his home for medical care, saying he needed ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other ailments.

Details of Guilty Verdict

He was convicted of heading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the presidential race to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a plot which encompassed plans to murder the current president and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.

The conspiracy was prevented because it didn't receive the endorsement of the military leaders. The current president was took office without problem on January 1st, 2023.

But a following week, on 8 January, numerous his followers attacked and damaged public facilities in the federal district, the capital city.

The law enforcement took action and around approximately 1,500 persons were detained.

The justices found that the demonstrators had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, restore order and reinstate his authority.

At the period, the legal team called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also prohibited from running for public office until twenty-sixty - eight years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.

The ex-leader called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the next presidential race.