The former Brazilian president arrested after being considered a flight risk
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 planning a armed takeover in September and given more than over two decades in incarceration, but he was staying under house arrest pending legal challenges.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after fresh information came to light.
This encompassed seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a call for a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the detention, the magistrate said information from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the former leader's aim to disable the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the protest called by his son.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I invite you to battle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could "pray for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the possibility of his move to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a background of planning to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.
The legal document underscores that the US embassy in the capital, Brasilia, is positioned around 13km from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist US President President Trump, causing him to enact a 50% tariff on imports of Brazilian goods.
The former president is being detained in a national police facility in Brasilia and will have a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with tracking devices.
They also asked that Bolsonaro be permitted to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he needed frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other ailments.
Details of Guilty Verdict
The former president was determined responsible of orchestrating a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his political opponent, President Lula.
High Court judges said that he was aware of a plot which included plans to assassinate Lula and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was prevented because it didn't receive the support of the army and air force commanders. Lula was took office without issue on January 1st, 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, numerous his followers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the national capital, BrasÃlia.
The law enforcement took action and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.
The justices found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.
At the moment, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.
He was also banned from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the completion of his term.
The ex-leader called the court case a targeted investigation" and said it was intended to stop him running in the next presidential race.