🔗 Share this article Bolsonaro detained after being deemed a flight risk Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest. The former head of state was convicted of planning a military coup in the ninth month and handed more than 27 years in incarceration, but he was staying under confinement pending legal challenges. Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a precautionary step after recent developments were revealed. This encompassed trying to remove his tracking device and a summons to a demonstration that could enable a potential flight. Judicial Records Show Flight Fears In a document approving the custody, the judge said information from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his flight. This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his offspring. His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his backers near his father's house to take place on the weekend. The senator wrote on social media on last Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or see it all from your mobile device there on your sofa? I invite you to fight with us." He said the demonstration would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation." Embassy Asylum Concerns Part of the magistrate's decision was the potential of the former president's transfer to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of organizing to request asylum through a consular facility", a statement said. The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the United States embassy in the national capital, Brasilia, is positioned around 13km from the former president's residence. International Reactions His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist United States President President Trump, causing him to implement a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports. Bolsonaro is being held in a Federal Police station in the capital and will experience a imprisonment assessment on Sunday. Recent Legal Requests It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to allow him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with tracking devices. They also requested that Bolsonaro be permitted to leave his home for medical care, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other ailments. Background on Conviction He was found guilty of leading a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the presidential race to his political opponent, Lula. Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plan which included plans to assassinate his opponent and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial. The scheme was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the support of the army and air force commanders. The current president was inaugurated without problem on the first day of 2023. But a following week, on the eighth of January, many his backers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the national capital, the capital city. The law enforcement intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested. The justices found that the rioters had been incited by him 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 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive. He was also banned from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the completion of his term. The one-time head of state called the court case a targeted investigation" and said it was intended to stop him running in the next presidential race.