🔗 Share this article

The former Brazilian leader has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.

The ex-president was convicted of planning a military coup in September and given more than over two decades in prison, but he remained under confinement pending legal challenges.

Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after recent developments came to light.

This included attempting to break his tracking device and a call for a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a possible escape.

Judicial Records Show Flight Fears

In a paperwork permitting the detention, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his getaway".

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

His offspring, his son Flávio, who holds office as a senator, called for a meeting of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.

His son wrote on online platforms on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your settee? I invite you to fight with us."

He said the demonstration would be so followers could "pray for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of the judge's ruling was the possibility of his transfer to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a background of planning to ask for protection through a consular facility", a declaration said.

The court filing emphasizes that the US embassy in the capital, Brasilia, is positioned around 13km from his dwelling.

International Reactions

The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative United States President Trump, prompting him to implement a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.

The former president is being detained in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will have a detention review on the next day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to permit him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with tracking devices.

They also requested that he be allowed to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he demanded regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other ailments.

Details of Guilty Verdict

He was found guilty of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the presidential race to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a scheme which involved plans to kill his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.

The plot was thwarted because it didn't receive the backing of the armed forces officials. Lula was inaugurated without problem on January 1st, 2023.

But a following week, on the eighth of January, numerous his followers invaded and destroyed government buildings in the capital, Brazil's capital.

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

The justices found that the protesters had been incited by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.

At the time, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also prohibited from running for public office until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.

The former president called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him competing in the 2026 presidential election.