Bolsonaro arrested after being deemed a flight risk

Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.

The ex-president was convicted of planning a government overthrow in September and given more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he was staying under home detention pending legal challenges.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a safety action after "new facts" came to light.

This involved trying to remove his tracking device and a summons to a demonstration that could "allow for a potential flight.

Court Filing Details Escape Risks

In a paperwork permitting the arrest, the magistrate said information from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's plan to remove the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his escape.

This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his child.

His child, his son Flávio, who works as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his followers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or see it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I invite you to battle with us."

He said the vigil would be so followers could offer prayers for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of the magistrate's decision was the possibility of Bolsonaro's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of arranging to ask for protection through a consular facility", a statement said.

The judicial paperwork highlights that the United States embassy in the federal district, Brazil's capital, is located around 13km from the former president's residence.

Worldwide Consequences

His judicial problems have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative American leader President Trump, causing him to impose a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports.

Bolsonaro is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will experience a custody hearing 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 domestic detention, with digital surveillance.

They also asked that the former president be permitted to depart his residence for medical care, saying he needed regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other ailments.

Background on Conviction

The former president was convicted of leading a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the presidential race to his left-wing rival, Lula.

High Court judges said that he knew of a plot which included plans to assassinate his opponent and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been overseeing the former president's case.

The plot was thwarted because it didn't receive the support of the military leaders. His successor was inaugurated without issue on the first day of 2023.

But a following week, on January 8th, numerous his followers attacked and damaged government buildings in the capital, Brasília.

The police intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.

The judges found that the demonstrators had been incited by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, restore order and reinstate his authority.

At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also barred from campaigning for office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.

The ex-leader called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the next presidential race.