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

The ex-president was convicted of orchestrating a government overthrow in the ninth month and sentenced more than over two decades in jail, but he remained under home detention pending legal challenges.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a precautionary step after fresh information came to light.

This included attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a possible escape.

Court Filing Details Escape Concerns

In a filing authorising the detention, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the tracking monitor to ensure success in his flight.

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

His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a senator, called for a gathering of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.

The senator wrote on online platforms on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your couch? I call on you to fight with us."

He said the gathering would be so supporters could "pray for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our land."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of the judge's decision was the possibility of Bolsonaro's "relocation to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of organizing to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.

The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the United States embassy in the national capital, Brasilia, is situated around 13km from the former president's residence.

Worldwide Consequences

The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative United States President Donald Trump, prompting him to enact a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.

The former president is being kept in a national police facility in Brasilia and will undergo a custody hearing on the next day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.

They also asked that he be permitted to leave his home for healthcare, saying he required ongoing care for lung conditions and other ailments.

Context of Sentencing

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

Top judicial officials said that he knew of a scheme which involved plans to assassinate his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been managing the former president's case.

The conspiracy was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the support of the armed forces officials. Lula was sworn in without incident on January 1st, 2023.

But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed public facilities in the national capital, Brazil's capital.

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

The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been provoked by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, restore order and return him to office.

At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence extremely harsh.

He was also prohibited from running for public office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the end of his sentence.

The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 presidential election.