The incident occurred shortly after midnight. Authorities feared that the former Brazilian president would take advantage of the confusion caused by Saturday’s vigil outside his home to try to escape
Jair Messias Bolsonaro reportedly tried to remove the electronic bracelet that allowed him to serve his sentence under house arrest. According to , system monitoring authorities detected an incident shortly after midnight local time (04:00 Lisbon). The judge considered that there would be a high risk of escape and suggested that Bolsonaro would take advantage of the confusion generated by the vigil called by his son, outside the condominium where he lives, to escape this Saturday night.
“The Integrated Monitoring Integration Center of the Federal District communicated to this SUPREME COURT the occurrence of a violation of the electronic monitoring equipment of the defendant JAIR MESSIAS BOLSONARO, at 00:08 on 11/22/2025. The information confirms the condemned man’s intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his escape, facilitated by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his son”, can be read in the document published by the Brazilian press.
Alexandre Moraes also considered that the proximity of Bolsonaro’s house to embassies such as those of the United States would increase the risk of escape, in an attempt to escape effective arrest, which. It would not be the first time that Jair Bolsonaro attempted to escape prison by taking refuge in another country’s embassy. “I recall that the defendant, as determined in these records, planned, during the investigation that subsequently resulted in his conviction, to escape to the Argentine embassy, by requesting political asylum in that country”, wrote Alexandre Moraes.
The fact that several of his allies had abandoned the country, including his son Eduardo Bolsonaro, also weighed heavily on the decision to preventively detain the former Brazilian president, even though they were the targets of criminal proceedings in the STF.
“If the extremely serious signs of the possible escape attempt by the defendant Jair Messias Bolsonaro mentioned above were not enough, it is important to highlight that Alexandre Ramagem Rodrigues, his political ally Carla Zambelli, both convicted by this Supreme Court; and the defendant’s son, Eduardo Nantes Bolsonaro, denounced by the Attorney General’s Office in the STF, also used the strategy of evading the national territory, with the aim of evading the application of criminal law”, can read in the document.
The former president, this Saturday. The arrest took place in the early hours of the morning. Unmarked vehicles arrived at the former Brazilian president’s house, located in a luxury condominium in Brasília, at around 6:00 am (local time) and left the place around half an hour later. Bolsonaro was taken to the Federal Police (PF) facilities in Brasília, where, according to the G1 news portal, he will stay in a State room, a space reserved for authorities such as presidents of the Republic and other high-ranking public figures.
