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Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.

The former head of state was sentenced of plotting a military coup in the ninth month and handed more than a 27-year term in jail, but he was staying under home detention pending court reviews.

Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a safety action after fresh information were revealed.

This involved seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a summons to a demonstration that could enable a possible escape.

Court Filing Details Escape Concerns

In a document approving the custody, the magistrate said data from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his flight.

This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the protest called by his offspring.

His son, his son Flávio, who serves as a senator, called for a meeting of his supporters near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.

The senator wrote on digital networks on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I invite you to fight with us."

He said the vigil would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our nation."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the potential of his "relocation to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a record of planning to ask for protection through a embassy office", a declaration said.

The legal document underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is located around 13km from the former president's residence.

Global Responses

His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow right-wing populist United States President Donald Trump, causing him to impose a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.

Bolsonaro is being held in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will have a custody hearing on the next day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with digital surveillance.

They also asked that he be authorized to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he demanded regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other ailments.

Context of Sentencing

He was determined responsible of heading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the presidential race to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plot which included plans to kill his opponent and his running partner, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing the former president's case.

The scheme was thwarted because it didn't receive the support of the armed forces officials. His successor was inaugurated without issue on January 1st, 2023.

But a seven days after, on 8 January, thousands of his followers attacked and damaged public facilities in the federal district, the capital city.

The police took action and around approximately 1,500 persons were detained.

The justices found that the demonstrators had been provoked by him whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to take action, reestablish control and bring him back to power.

At the period, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.

He was also barred from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the completion of his term.

The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a targeted investigation" and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the 2026 national vote.