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

The ex-president was sentenced of plotting a military coup in last fall and sentenced more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he remained under home detention pending legal challenges.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after "new facts" came to light.

This encompassed seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a call for a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a possible escape.

Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns

In a paperwork permitting the custody, the judge said information from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his flight.

This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his child.

His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a legislator, called for a gathering of his followers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on the previous day: Will you battle for your homeland, or see it all from your mobile device there on your sofa? I call on you to struggle with us."

He said the vigil would be so supporters could offer prayers for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our country."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the magistrate's decision was the potential of his move to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of planning to request asylum through a consular facility", a statement said.

The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, Brazil's capital, is located around 13km from the former president's residence.

Global Responses

His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative United States President Donald Trump, causing him to enact a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.

The former president is being held in a Federal Police station in the capital and will have a custody hearing on Sunday.

Recent Judicial Appeals

It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.

They also requested that the former president be authorized to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he required frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other health problems.

Context of Sentencing

He was convicted of leading a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the national vote to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a scheme which included plans to murder his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.

The plot was stopped because it didn't receive the endorsement of the military leaders. His successor was sworn in without incident on the first day of 2023.

But a week later, on the eighth of January, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised public facilities in the national capital, Brasília.

The law enforcement intervened and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.

The judges found that the demonstrators had been incited by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, restore order and bring him back to power.

At the period, his attorneys called the over 27-year sentence unreasonably severe".

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

The former president called the court case a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 presidential election.