🔗 Share this article

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

The former head of state was found guilty of plotting a government overthrow in the ninth month and handed more than over two decades in incarceration, but he continued under confinement pending appeals.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice the presiding justice said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a safety action after recent developments emerged.

This involved trying to remove his ankle monitor and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a possible escape.

Court Filing Details Escape Concerns

In a document approving the arrest, the judge said information from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his escape.

This, it said, would be assisted by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his child.

His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a senator, called for a meeting of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.

The senator wrote on social media on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your settee? I urge you to struggle with us."

He said the gathering would be so supporters could offer prayers for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the potential of his "relocation to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a record of organizing to seek refuge through a embassy office", a statement said.

The court filing highlights that the United States embassy in the national capital, the capital city, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.

Worldwide Consequences

Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist US President Trump, causing him to implement a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.

The former president is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on the next day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with tracking devices.

They also asked that he be authorized to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he demanded regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.

Details of Guilty Verdict

The former president was determined responsible of leading a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the national vote to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Top judicial officials said that he was aware of a plan which involved plans to kill his opponent and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.

The scheme was stopped because it didn't receive the support of the military leaders. The current president was sworn in without problem on the first day of 2023.

But a seven days after, on 8 January, numerous his followers attacked and damaged public facilities in the capital, the capital city.

The police stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.

The justices found that the demonstrators had been provoked by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, restore order and bring him back to power.

At the time, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.

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

The one-time head of state called the trial a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the next presidential race.