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Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.

The one-time leader was convicted of orchestrating a armed takeover in last fall and handed more than over two decades in jail, but he continued under house arrest pending legal challenges.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after recent developments came to light.

This encompassed trying to remove his ankle monitor and a call for a public vigil that could enable a possible escape.

Court Filing Details Escape Risks

In a paperwork permitting the arrest, the judge said data from the unit overseeing his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to secure accomplishment in his getaway".

This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his son.

His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a legislator, called for a gathering of his followers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.

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

He said the gathering would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our nation."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of the judge's ruling was the potential of the former president's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a background of arranging to ask for protection through a embassy office", a declaration said.

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

International Reactions

Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist US President President Trump, leading him to implement a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.

Bolsonaro is being kept in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will undergo a detention review on Sunday.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to authorize him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with digital surveillance.

They also asked that he be allowed to exit his dwelling for medical treatment, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other health problems.

Context of Sentencing

The former president was convicted of leading a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a plan which involved plans to kill Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.

The plot was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the backing of the military leaders. Lula was inaugurated without problem on 1 January 2023.

But a week later, on January 8th, numerous Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged official structures in the federal district, Brasília.

The police stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.

The judges found that the protesters had been encouraged by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, restore order and reinstate his authority.

At the moment, the legal team called the over 27-year sentence unreasonably severe".

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

The one-time head of state called the trial a targeted investigation" and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the 2026 presidential election.