🔗 Share this article

The former Brazilian leader has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.

The former head of state was found guilty of planning a military coup in September and handed more than over two decades in jail, but he continued under confinement pending legal challenges.

High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" emerged.

This involved attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a summons to a public vigil that could facilitate a potential flight.

Judicial Records Show Flight Fears

In a document approving the arrest, the judge said intelligence from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his flight.

This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the protest called by his offspring.

His son, his son Flávio, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.

The senator wrote on digital networks on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your country, or see it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I urge you to struggle with us."

He said the vigil would be so supporters could "pray for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the possibility of his "relocation to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of arranging to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.

The legal document emphasizes that the United States embassy in the national capital, the capital city, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from his dwelling.

Worldwide Consequences

The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow conservative nationalist American leader President Trump, causing him to enact a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.

Bolsonaro is being kept in a Federal Police station in Brazil's capital city and will experience a custody hearing on Sunday.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.

They also asked that he be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he required regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other health problems.

Details of Guilty Verdict

He was convicted of leading a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the national vote to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a scheme which included plans to kill the current president and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing the former president's case.

The conspiracy was prevented because it failed to get the support of the armed forces officials. His successor was inaugurated without problem on 1 January 2023.

But a week later, on the eighth of January, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged government buildings in the capital, Brasília.

The police stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.

The judges found that the protesters had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to step in, restore order and reinstate his authority.

At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence extremely harsh.

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

The one-time head of state called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 presidential election.