Jair Bolsonaro taken into custody after being considered a flight risk

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The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.

The one-time leader was sentenced of planning a military coup in last fall and given more than 27 years in jail, but he remained under confinement pending legal challenges.

Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after recent developments came to light.

This included attempting to break his ankle monitor and a invitation to a supporters' gathering that could enable a potential flight.

Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns

In a filing authorising the arrest, the judge said data from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his escape.

This, it said, would be "facilitated by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.

His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a senator, called for a assembly of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.

His son wrote on online platforms on last Friday: Will you battle for your country, or see it all from your phone there on your settee? I invite you to battle with us."

He said the vigil would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the chance of the former president's transfer to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a background of organizing to ask for protection through a embassy office", a declaration said.

The court filing highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is located around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.

International Reactions

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

He is being kept in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will undergo a custody hearing on the next day.

Latest Court Petitions

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

They also asked that Bolsonaro be permitted to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he required ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.

Details of Guilty Verdict

Bolsonaro was determined responsible of leading a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plan which involved plans to kill the current president and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.

The conspiracy was stopped because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the military leaders. His successor was sworn in without incident on 1 January 2023.

But a following week, on January 8th, many his followers invaded and destroyed government buildings in the federal district, Brazil's capital.

The police took action and around 1,500 people were detained.

The judges found that the demonstrators had been provoked by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to step in, restore order and bring him back to power.

At the moment, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.

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

The former president called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him running in the 2026 national vote.

Douglas Jennings
Douglas Jennings

A tech journalist with over a decade of experience covering UK media and technology sectors, specializing in digital transformation and innovation.