🔗 Share this article Jair Bolsonaro arrested after being declared a escape threat Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest. The former head of state was sentenced of planning a military coup in last fall and given more than 27 years in prison, but he remained under house arrest pending court reviews. Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after fresh information were revealed. This involved trying to remove his tracking device and a invitation to a demonstration that could enable a possible escape. Judicial Records Show Escape Risks In a document approving the custody, 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 secure accomplishment in his flight. This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his son. His son, his son Flávio, who serves as a senator, called for a meeting of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend. His son wrote on digital networks on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or see it all from your phone there on your sofa? I call on you to struggle with us." He said the demonstration would be so followers could offer prayers for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation." Foreign Shelter Risks Part of the magistrate's decision was the potential of the former president's transfer to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of organizing to seek refuge through a embassy office", a statement said. The judicial paperwork highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, Brazil's capital, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence. Global Responses Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist US President Donald Trump, causing him to enact a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods. He is being held in a Federal Police station in Brazil's capital city and will have a custody hearing on Sunday. Latest Court Petitions It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with digital surveillance. They also petitioned that he be allowed to depart his residence for medical care, saying he required regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other health problems. Background on Conviction He was determined responsible of heading a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the national vote to his ideological adversary, Lula. Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a scheme which encompassed plans to murder Lula and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing the former president's case. The scheme was prevented because it didn't receive the support of the military leaders. Lula was sworn in without issue on the first day of 2023. But a week later, on the eighth of January, thousands of his followers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the federal district, the capital city. The police stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody. The magistrates found that the protesters had been incited by Bolsonaro whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, restore order and bring him back to power. At the moment, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh. He was also barred from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment. The ex-leader called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the 2026 national vote.