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

The one-time leader was found guilty of plotting a government overthrow in September and given more than over two decades in jail, but he continued under house arrest pending legal challenges.

High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" came to light.

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

Court Filing Details Escape Risks

In a filing authorising the arrest, Justice Moraes said information from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the tracking monitor to ensure success in his getaway".

This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his son.

His offspring, his son Flávio, who holds office as a legislator, called for a meeting of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.

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

He said the demonstration would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our land."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of the magistrate's decision was the potential of Bolsonaro's "relocation to embassies near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a record of arranging to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.

The court filing emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, Brasilia, is located around 13km from the former president's residence.

Global Responses

The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow right-wing populist US President Donald Trump, leading him to impose a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.

Bolsonaro is being detained in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on the next day.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on the previous day that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to permit him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with tracking devices.

They also petitioned that he be allowed to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he required regular treatment for lung conditions and other illnesses.

Details of Guilty Verdict

He was convicted of orchestrating a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Lula.

High Court judges said that he knew of a plan which included plans to kill his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing his judicial proceedings.

The conspiracy was prevented because it failed to get the endorsement of the military leaders. The current president was inaugurated without problem on the first day of 2023.

But a following week, on 8 January, numerous his backers attacked and damaged public facilities in the national capital, Brazil's capital.

The security forces stepped in and around approximately 1,500 persons were detained.

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

At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.

He was also banned from running for public office until 2060 - 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 designed to prevent him participating in the 2026 national vote.