Jair Bolsonaro taken into custody after being considered a risk of fleeing

The former Brazilian leader has been detained after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.

The ex-president was convicted of orchestrating a military coup in the ninth month and handed more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he continued under home detention pending legal challenges.

Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after fresh information emerged.

This involved trying to remove his ankle monitor and a call for a demonstration that could "allow for a potential flight.

Court Filing Details Flight Fears

In a document approving the custody, the judge said intelligence from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's "intention to break the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his escape.

This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his son.

His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a legislator, called for a assembly of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.

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 urge you to struggle with us."

He said the demonstration would be so followers could "pray for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our country."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the magistrate's decision was the chance of the former president's "relocation to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a background of arranging to seek refuge through a embassy office", a statement said.

The court filing underscores that the US embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is situated around 8 miles from his dwelling.

Global Responses

The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative American leader Trump, leading him to enact a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports.

Bolsonaro is being kept in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will have a imprisonment assessment on the following day.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.

They also petitioned that the former president be permitted to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other ailments.

Details of Guilty Verdict

Bolsonaro was convicted of heading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the presidential race to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

High Court judges said that he was aware of a plan which included plans to assassinate his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.

The scheme was stopped because it couldn't obtain the backing of the armed forces officials. Lula was inaugurated without problem on the first day of 2023.

But a seven days after, on 8 January, thousands of his backers invaded and destroyed public facilities in the national capital, the capital city.

The law enforcement took action and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.

The justices found that the rioters had been encouraged by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, reestablish control and return him to office.

At the period, his attorneys called the over 27-year sentence extremely harsh.

He was also banned from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - eight 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.