Bolsonaro arrested after being deemed a escape threat
Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The ex-president was convicted of plotting a armed takeover in September and given more than over two decades in incarceration, but he continued under house arrest pending appeals.
Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the action to imprison the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" came to light.
This encompassed trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a call for a public vigil that could "allow for a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a filing authorising the custody, Justice Moraes said data from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his flight.
This, it said, would be assisted by the confusion caused by the protest called by his offspring.
His offspring, Flávio, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.
The senator wrote on social media on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I urge you to fight with us."
He said the vigil would be so backers could "pray for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our nation."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the potential of the former president's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of arranging to ask for protection through a consular facility", a declaration said.
The legal document highlights that the United States embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is situated around 13km from his dwelling.
Global Responses
Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative US President Donald Trump, leading him to implement a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
Bolsonaro is being kept in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will have a detention review on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to permit him to complete his entire prison term under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that Bolsonaro be authorized to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he required regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was found guilty of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the 2022 election to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a scheme which involved plans to kill Lula and his running partner, Alckmin, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was prevented because it failed to get the backing of the army and air force commanders. The current president was took office without problem on 1 January 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, numerous his followers stormed and vandalised public facilities in the national capital, Brazil's capital.
The law enforcement intervened and around 1,500 people were arrested.
The justices found that the demonstrators had been incited by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to take action, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the period, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - eight years later after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The former president called the court case a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him competing in the 2026 national vote.