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Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.

The former head of state was convicted of orchestrating a government overthrow in September and sentenced more than over two decades in jail, but he remained under house arrest pending legal challenges.

Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after "new facts" emerged.

This encompassed trying to remove his ankle monitor and a call for a public vigil that could facilitate a possible escape.

Court Filing Details Escape Concerns

In a document approving the arrest, the judge said intelligence from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's "intention to break the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his getaway".

This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the protest called by his child.

His son, his son Flávio, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.

His son wrote on online platforms on last Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or see it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I invite you to fight with us."

He said the demonstration would be so supporters could offer prayers for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of the magistrate's determination was the potential of his "relocation to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a record of arranging to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.

The legal document highlights that the US embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is located around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.

International Reactions

The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist US President President Trump, prompting him to enact a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.

The former president is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on the following day.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with tracking devices.

They also asked that Bolsonaro be permitted to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he needed ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other ailments.

Context of Sentencing

Bolsonaro was convicted of heading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Lula.

Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a plot which included plans to assassinate his opponent and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over the former president's case.

The conspiracy was stopped because it couldn't obtain the backing of the military leaders. His successor was sworn in without incident on January 1st, 2023.

But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, thousands of his followers stormed and vandalised public facilities in the federal district, Brasília.

The security forces stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.

The judges found that the protesters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to step in, restore order and bring him back to power.

At the period, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.

He was also banned from running for public office until twenty-sixty - eight years after the completion of his term.

The one-time head of state called the court case a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the next presidential race.