Jair Bolsonaro arrested after being considered a flight risk

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Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.

The one-time leader was convicted of orchestrating a armed takeover in the ninth month and sentenced more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he remained under house arrest pending court reviews.

Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a precautionary step after recent developments came to light.

This encompassed trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could enable a possible escape.

Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns

In a document approving the custody, Justice Moraes said information from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his getaway".

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

His child, his son Flávio, who works as a legislator, called for a meeting of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.

His son wrote on online platforms on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I invite you to struggle with us."

He said the gathering would be so backers could offer prayers for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our country."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of the magistrate's ruling was the chance of the former president's "relocation to embassies near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a record of planning to ask for protection through a consular facility", a announcement said.

The court filing emphasizes that the United States embassy in the national capital, Brasilia, is located around 13km from the former president's residence.

Worldwide Consequences

His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative American leader Trump, leading him to implement a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.

Bolsonaro is being kept in a national police facility in the capital and will have a custody hearing on the next day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the Top Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with electronic monitoring.

They also asked that he be allowed to depart his residence for medical care, saying he needed frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other health problems.

Context of Sentencing

Bolsonaro was determined responsible of heading a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the national vote to his political opponent, President Lula.

Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a plot which encompassed plans to kill the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been managing his judicial proceedings.

The plot was prevented because it couldn't obtain the support of the army and air force commanders. His successor was inaugurated without problem on 1 January 2023.

But a seven days after, on 8 January, thousands of his backers stormed and vandalised official structures in the federal district, Brazil's capital.

The law enforcement stepped in and around approximately 1,500 persons were taken into custody.

The magistrates found that the rioters had been incited by Bolsonaro whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, restore order and bring him back to power.

At the time, the legal team called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.

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

The former president called the court case a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 presidential election.

Mark Hurst
Mark Hurst

A blockchain enthusiast and writer with a passion for demystifying crypto concepts for everyday investors.