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Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.

The one-time leader was sentenced of plotting a government overthrow in September and sentenced more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he continued under home detention pending legal challenges.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the action to imprison the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" came to light.

This included attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a call for a demonstration that could enable a possible escape.

Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns

In a filing authorising the custody, Justice Moraes said data from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the tracking monitor to ensure success in his flight.

This, it said, would be assisted by the confusion caused by the gathering called by his offspring.

His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his backers near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on online platforms on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or see it all from your mobile device there on your couch? I urge you to battle with us."

He said the demonstration would be so followers could "pray for his health and for the return of democracy in our country."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the potential of Bolsonaro's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a background of planning to ask for protection through a embassy office", a statement said.

The court filing underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around 8 miles from the former president's residence.

Global Responses

His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist US President President Trump, leading him to enact a 50% tariff on goods coming from Brazil.

The former president is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will experience a detention review on the following day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with digital surveillance.

They also requested that Bolsonaro be permitted to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he needed frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other ailments.

Details of Guilty Verdict

Bolsonaro was found guilty of leading a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the national vote to his ideological adversary, President Lula.

Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a plan which encompassed plans to assassinate the current president and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing the former president's case.

The conspiracy was prevented because it couldn't obtain the support of the armed forces officials. The current president was inaugurated without issue on January 1st, 2023.

But a week later, on January 8th, numerous Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised official structures in the federal district, the capital city.

The law enforcement intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.

The judges found that the protesters had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, restore order and reinstate his authority.

At the time, his attorneys called the over 27-year sentence extremely harsh.

He was also banned from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.

The former president called the court case a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the 2026 presidential election.