🔗 Share this article

The former Brazilian leader has been detained after authorities found he posed a definite escape threat while under domestic detention.

The one-time leader was sentenced of orchestrating a armed takeover in the ninth month and given more than over two decades in prison, but he continued under home detention pending legal challenges.

Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" were revealed.

This included trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a summons to a demonstration that could "allow for a possible escape.

Judicial Records Show Escape Risks

In a filing authorising the arrest, the magistrate said intelligence from the centre monitoring 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 assisted by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his son.

His child, his son Flávio, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his followers near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your country, or see it all from your mobile device there on your sofa? I urge you to struggle with us."

He said the demonstration would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our land."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the magistrate's determination was the possibility of Bolsonaro's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a record of arranging to seek refuge through a consular facility", a declaration said.

The judicial paperwork highlights that the US embassy in the national capital, Brasilia, is located around 8 miles from his dwelling.

International Reactions

The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative US President Trump, prompting him to impose a 50% tariff on goods coming from Brazil.

Bolsonaro is being held in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on the next day.

Recent Judicial Appeals

It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the Top Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with tracking devices.

They also asked that the former president be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical treatment, saying he required frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other ailments.

Background on Conviction

The former president was convicted of heading a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Top judicial officials said that he knew of a plan which involved plans to kill Lula and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing his judicial proceedings.

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

But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, numerous his backers attacked and damaged public facilities in the capital, Brazil's capital.

The law enforcement took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.

The justices found that the rioters had been encouraged by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to take action, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.

At the moment, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence extremely harsh.

He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the end of his sentence.

The ex-leader called the trial a targeted investigation" and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 presidential election.