The former Brazilian president taken into custody after being considered a risk of fleeing

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The former Brazilian leader has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.

The ex-president was found guilty of planning a armed takeover in last fall and given more than 27 years in incarceration, but he remained under home detention pending appeals.

High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after "new facts" came to light.

This involved attempting to break his tracking device and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could enable a chance to flee".

Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns

In a paperwork permitting the detention, the judge said data from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's aim to disable the surveillance device to ensure success in his flight.

This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his son.

His offspring, Flávio, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his followers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your couch? I invite you to battle with us."

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

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the possibility of Bolsonaro's move to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of planning to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.

The legal document emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, the capital city, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from his dwelling.

Global Responses

His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative United States President Donald Trump, causing him to enact a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.

The former president is being kept in a national police facility in the capital and will undergo a custody hearing on Sunday.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the High Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.

They also requested that the former president be permitted to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he required regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.

Background on Conviction

He was determined responsible of leading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

High Court judges said that he was aware of a scheme which involved plans to murder Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing the former president's case.

The plot was stopped because it couldn't obtain the support of the armed forces officials. The current president was sworn in without incident on the first day of 2023.

But a seven days after, on 8 January, many Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged government buildings in the federal district, the capital city.

The law enforcement took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.

The judges found that the protesters had been incited by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, restore order and bring him back to power.

At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also barred from seeking elected position until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.

The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him participating in the next presidential race.

Barbara Hicks
Barbara Hicks

A passionate film critic with over a decade of experience, specializing in British cinema and independent films.