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Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.

The former head of state was convicted of planning a government overthrow in the ninth month and handed more than 27 years in jail, but he remained under confinement pending appeals.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after fresh information were revealed.

This included attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a summons to a public vigil that could facilitate a potential flight.

Judicial Records Show Flight Fears

In a paperwork permitting the detention, the magistrate said data from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's aim to disable the surveillance device to ensure success in his escape.

This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.

His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a legislator, called for a gathering of his followers near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your country, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your sofa? I call on you to fight with us."

He said the gathering would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the chance of the former president's move to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of planning to ask for protection through a embassy office", a statement said.

The court filing emphasizes that the United States embassy in the national capital, the capital city, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.

International Reactions

The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative United States President Donald Trump, prompting him to implement a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.

He is being held in a Federal Police station in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a custody hearing on Sunday.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under house arrest, with tracking devices.

They also petitioned that the former president be authorized to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he required ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.

Context of Sentencing

The former president was convicted of leading a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plot which included plans to kill Lula and his running partner, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.

The conspiracy was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the backing of the armed forces officials. The current president was took office without issue on January 1st, 2023.

But a week later, on January 8th, numerous his followers attacked and damaged official structures in the national capital, Brasília.

The law enforcement took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.

The justices found that the rioters had been encouraged by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, reestablish control and return him to office.

At the time, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.

He was also barred from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - eight years later after the end of his sentence.

The one-time head of state called the court case a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 presidential election.