🔗 Share this article Bolsonaro taken into custody after being declared a flight risk The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under domestic detention. The ex-president was sentenced of planning a armed takeover in September and given more than 27 years in jail, but he remained under home detention pending appeals. Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a safety action after "new facts" emerged. This included attempting to break his tracking device and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a potential flight. Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks In a document approving the detention, the magistrate said intelligence from the unit overseeing his home detention suggested the former leader's aim to disable the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his escape. This, it said, would be "facilitated by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his child. His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a senator, called for a assembly of his supporters near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening. The senator wrote on social media on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or see it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I call on you to fight with us." He said the vigil would be so backers could "pray for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land." Foreign Shelter Risks Part of the judge's ruling was the potential of Bolsonaro's "relocation to foreign missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a history of arranging to seek refuge through a embassy office", a announcement said. The legal document highlights that the United States embassy in the capital, the capital city, is located around 8 miles from his dwelling. Worldwide Consequences His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative American leader President Trump, causing him to implement a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports. Bolsonaro is being detained in a national police facility in the capital and will experience a custody hearing on the following day. Recent Judicial Appeals It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to authorize him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with electronic monitoring. They also requested that the former president be permitted to leave his home for medical care, saying he needed regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other illnesses. Context of Sentencing He was found guilty of heading a conspiracy aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the national vote to his ideological adversary, President Lula. Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plot which encompassed plans to assassinate the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing his judicial proceedings. The plot was prevented because it failed to get the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. The current president was took office without incident on 1 January 2023. But a seven days after, on 8 January, thousands of his followers invaded and destroyed public facilities in the national capital, Brazil's capital. The security forces stepped in and around 1,500 people were detained. The judges found that the rioters had been incited by him whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to take action, bring back stability and return him to office. At the moment, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence extremely harsh. He was also banned from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence. The former president called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the next presidential race.