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

The former head of state was sentenced of plotting a government overthrow in last fall and handed more than over two decades in jail, but he was staying under house arrest pending appeals.

Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" were revealed.

This encompassed seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a invitation to a public vigil that could facilitate a possible escape.

Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns

In a document approving the custody, the magistrate said intelligence from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his escape.

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

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

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your couch? I call on you to struggle with us."

He said the gathering would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our country."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of the judge's decision was the possibility of the former president's "relocation to embassies near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a background of arranging to seek refuge through a consular facility", a statement said.

The court filing emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, the capital city, is positioned around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.

Global Responses

His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative US President Trump, leading him to implement a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.

The former president is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will have a imprisonment assessment on the next day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with digital surveillance.

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

Details of Guilty Verdict

The former president was determined responsible of heading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the presidential race to his political opponent, Lula.

Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plan which encompassed plans to murder his opponent and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.

The conspiracy was prevented because it didn't receive the support of the army and air force commanders. Lula was took office without incident on the first day of 2023.

But a seven days after, on January 8th, many his backers attacked and damaged government buildings in the national capital, the capital city.

The security forces intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.

The justices found that the demonstrators had been incited by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to step in, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.

At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence extremely harsh.

He was also barred from campaigning for office until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.

The ex-leader called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him running in the 2026 presidential election.