🔗 Share this article

Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.

The ex-president was convicted of planning a military coup in the ninth month and handed more than over two decades in jail, but he was staying under home detention pending appeals.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice the presiding justice said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a preventative measure after fresh information were revealed.

This involved trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a summons to a public vigil that could enable a potential flight.

Court Filing Details Escape Concerns

In a filing authorising the detention, the magistrate said information from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his escape.

This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the protest called by his child.

His son, his son Flávio, who holds office as a legislator, called for a gathering of his supporters near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.

The senator wrote on online platforms on the previous day: Will you battle for your homeland, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your couch? I call on you to battle with us."

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

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the magistrate's decision was the possibility of the former president's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a history of organizing to seek refuge through a consular facility", a announcement said.

The court filing emphasizes that the US embassy in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is located around 8 miles from his dwelling.

Worldwide Consequences

Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative American leader Donald Trump, leading him to impose a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.

Bolsonaro is being detained in a national police facility in the capital and will experience a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the Top Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with digital surveillance.

They also asked that he be allowed to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he required frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other ailments.

Context of Sentencing

The former president was determined responsible of heading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the presidential race to his ideological adversary, President Lula.

Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plan which encompassed plans to murder the current president and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.

The scheme was prevented because it couldn't obtain the support of the army and air force commanders. The current president was inaugurated without incident on 1 January 2023.

But a week later, on January 8th, many his backers stormed and vandalised public facilities in the national capital, the capital city.

The police took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.

The justices found that the rioters had been incited by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, reestablish control and bring him back to power.

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

He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until the year 2060 - eight years later after the completion of his term.

The former president called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 national vote.