BRAZIL’S former president Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested for allegedly planning to flee – days before the start of his lengthy prison sentence for a coup plot.
The populist politician, 70, has been under strict house arrest since August but was brought into prison in Brasilia early on Saturday.
The Supreme Judge who gave the order, Alexandre de Moraes, said it was a preventative measure to stop an escape attempt suspected to have been planned for later that day.
Bolsonaro’s ankle tag was violated just after midnight, suggesting it had been tampered with, according to the judge in a rare Saturday ruling.
Officers swooped in to make the arrest at around 6am, and Bolsonaro was taken to the Federal Police headquarters.
A group of the former president’s supporters were camping around the house and a rally was planned for later in the day, organised by his son.
The judge suspected that Bolsonaro was planning to use the commotion as cover to escape.
De Moraes said Bolsonaro was a “high flight risk” after being convicted of the coup plot – which involved poisoning the current president Lula – which is why he was forced to wear the ankle tag in the first place.
He said that a group of Bolsonaro’s supporters who had set up camp around the house also posed a security risk – because they made it harder for police to monitor the house arrest.
De Moraes said: “That information shows the intent of the convict to break the ankle monitoring to assure his escape is successful, which would be made easier by the confusion that would be caused by a demonstration organised by his son.
He wrote: “The tumult caused by an illegal gathering of the convict’s supporters has a strong chance of putting at risk the house arrest and other precautionary measures, allowing for his eventual escape.”
The judge also said that Bolsonaro had previously considered seeking asylum in the Argentine embassy in Brasilia.
One of his sons and other close allies have already fled Brasil to escape the reach of the courts, it was noted.
In response, Bolsonaro’s lawyers said his detention caused “deep perplexity”.
They said the planned “prayer vigil” was protected by the Brazilian Constitution under the right to religious freedom.
The lawyers added: “Despite claiming the ‘existence of very serious evidence of a possible escape,’ the fact is that the former president was arrested at his home, with an electronic ankle monitor and under police surveillance.”
Moraes’s decision will be submitted to a Supreme Court panel for confirmation on Monday.
This is the same panel that voted 4-1 to convict him in September.
The right-wing former leader was sentenced in September to 27 years and three months in prison for plotting a coup after losing the 2022 presidential election to leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Bolsonaro was identified as the leader of a scheme to prevent Lula from taking office in 2023.
However, the courts have not yet issued a final arrest order in that case, as Bolsonaro is still appealing.
He was put under house arrest more than 100 days ago for violating conditions of a separate case – for allegedly seeking US help to stop the criminal case.
President Trump, who had warm relations with Bolsonaro when they were both in power, has condemned the case as a “witch hunt”.
He imposed sanctions on Judge de Moraes, and slapped a 50 percent tariff on US imports of several Brazilian goods, which he began to roll back this month.
While under house arrest, Bolsonaro was barred from using social media, but received visits from political allies.
His son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, put out a call on social media for supporters to gather outside his father’s condominium in Brasilia on Saturday evening.
“I invite you to come fight with us,” the senator said in a video posted online.
“With your strength, the strength of the people, we’ll fight back and rescue Brazil.”
If the appeals are ultimately unsuccessful, Bolsonaro’s legal team is expected to request he be allowed to serve his sentence under house arrest, on the basis of several health issues.
The former president was stabbed in the stomach during a 2018 campaign event, and has a history of complications related to the attack.
Bolsonaro had already been banned from running for office until 2030 after Brazil‘s electoral court found him guilty of abusing his office during his 2022 re-election campaign.
