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The former Brazilian leader has been arrested after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.

The one-time leader was found guilty of plotting a government overthrow in last fall and given more than 27 years in incarceration, but he continued under home detention pending court reviews.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a safety action after recent developments came to light.

This encompassed trying to remove his tracking device and a summons to a demonstration that could facilitate a possible escape.

Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears

In a filing authorising the detention, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his flight.

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

His offspring, his son Flávio, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his followers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.

His son wrote on online platforms on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your sofa? I urge you to struggle with us."

He said the vigil would be so supporters could offer prayers for his health and for the return of democracy in our land."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the chance of the former president's transfer to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a history of organizing to ask for protection through a consular facility", a statement said.

The court filing highlights that the US embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is situated around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.

International Reactions

Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist US President President Trump, leading him to implement a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.

He is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will undergo a custody hearing on the following day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the Supreme Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with digital surveillance.

They also asked that the former president be permitted to exit his dwelling for medical treatment, saying he required frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other ailments.

Background on Conviction

He was convicted of leading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Lula.

Top judicial officials said that he knew of a plan which included plans to murder the current president and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.

The scheme was prevented because it couldn't obtain the support of the army and air force commanders. Lula was sworn in without issue on 1 January 2023.

But a week later, on the eighth of January, many his backers stormed and vandalised official structures in the capital, Brasília.

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

The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been incited by him whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to take action, bring back stability and bring him back to power.

At the moment, the legal team called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".

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

The ex-leader called the court case a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 national vote.