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Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities found he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.

The one-time leader was convicted of plotting a military coup in the ninth month and given more than 27 years in prison, but he was staying under confinement pending legal challenges.

High Court Judge the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after fresh information were revealed.

This involved trying to remove his ankle monitor and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a possible escape.

Court Filing Details Flight Fears

In a document approving the arrest, the judge said intelligence from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the former leader's "intention to break the surveillance device to ensure success in his flight.

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

His offspring, Flávio, who works as a senator, called for a gathering of his followers near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on online platforms on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or watch it all from your phone there on your sofa? I call on you to fight with us."

He said the demonstration would be so followers could "pray for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of the judge's ruling was the possibility of his move to foreign missions near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of planning to ask for protection through a consular facility", a declaration said.

The legal document underscores that the US embassy in the capital, the capital city, is located around 8 miles from the former president's residence.

International Reactions

Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow right-wing populist US President President Trump, prompting him to implement a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.

The former president is being held in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will have a imprisonment assessment on the following day.

Recent Judicial Appeals

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

They also requested that he be permitted to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other health problems.

Context of Sentencing

He was found guilty of orchestrating a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the national vote to his ideological adversary, President Lula.

Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a scheme which included plans to kill the current president and his running partner, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been overseeing his judicial proceedings.

The conspiracy was prevented because it failed to get the support of the army and air force commanders. His successor was sworn in without incident on 1 January 2023.

But a week later, on January 8th, many his backers stormed and vandalised official structures in the federal district, Brazil's capital.

The security forces intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.

The magistrates found that the protesters had been incited by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, bring back stability and bring him back to power.

At the period, the legal team called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also banned from campaigning for office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.

The former president called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him participating in the next presidential race.