The former Brazilian president taken into custody after being considered a flight risk

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

The ex-president was found guilty of planning a government overthrow in last fall and handed more than 27 years in jail, but he was staying under house arrest pending legal challenges.

High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a safety action after "new facts" were revealed.

This encompassed trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a summons to a demonstration that could enable a chance to flee".

Court Filing Details Flight Fears

In a paperwork permitting the arrest, Justice Moraes said information from the unit overseeing his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the tracking monitor to ensure success in his flight.

This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the protest called by his offspring.

His child, Flávio, who serves as a senator, called for a gathering of his supporters near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.

His son wrote on social media on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or see it all from your smartphone there on your sofa? I invite you to battle with us."

He said the gathering would be so supporters could "pray for his health and for the return of democracy in our nation."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of the judge's decision was the possibility of Bolsonaro's "relocation to foreign missions near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of arranging to seek refuge through a consular facility", a announcement said.

The legal document emphasizes that the United States embassy in the national capital, the capital city, is located around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.

Worldwide Consequences

Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative American leader Trump, causing him to enact a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.

He is being held in a national police facility in the capital and will have a imprisonment assessment on the following day.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with digital surveillance.

They also requested that Bolsonaro be authorized to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he needed ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other health problems.

Background on Conviction

He was determined responsible of orchestrating a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Lula.

High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a plan which involved plans to kill Lula and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been overseeing the former president's case.

The conspiracy was thwarted because it failed to get the support of the military leaders. Lula was inaugurated without problem on the first day of 2023.

But a week later, on the eighth of January, numerous his followers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the federal district, the capital city.

The security forces stepped in and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.

The magistrates found that the rioters had been provoked by him whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.

At the time, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also banned from running for public office until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.

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