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

The one-time leader was sentenced of orchestrating a military coup in the ninth month and given more than a 27-year term in jail, but he remained under confinement pending appeals.

Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the action to imprison the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after recent developments came to light.

This included seeking to disable his tracking device and a summons to a public vigil that could facilitate a potential flight.

Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears

In a paperwork permitting the custody, Justice Moraes said information from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his getaway".

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

His offspring, his son Flávio, who works as a senator, called for a gathering of his followers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.

The senator wrote on social media on the previous day: Will you battle for your nation, or see it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I call on you to struggle with us."

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

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the judge's decision was the potential of the former president's "relocation to foreign missions near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of arranging to request asylum through a embassy office", a declaration said.

The legal document emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around 8 miles from his dwelling.

International Reactions

Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist American leader Trump, leading him to enact a 50% tariff on imports of Brazilian goods.

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

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to permit him to complete his entire prison term under house arrest, with tracking devices.

They also petitioned that Bolsonaro be allowed to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he required regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other ailments.

Context of Sentencing

Bolsonaro was convicted of leading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the national vote to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a plan which encompassed plans to kill the current president and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.

The scheme was prevented because it didn't receive the backing of the military leaders. The current president was sworn in without problem on 1 January 2023.

But a following week, on January 8th, many Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged official structures in the capital, the capital city.

The law enforcement stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.

The judges found that the demonstrators had been incited by him whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, bring back stability and return him to office.

At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.

He was also banned from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the conclusion of his imprisonment.

The ex-leader called the trial a targeted investigation" and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the next presidential race.