The former Brazilian president arrested after being considered a flight risk

Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.

The former head of state was found guilty of plotting a government overthrow in the ninth month and handed more than over two decades in incarceration, but he remained under home detention pending legal challenges.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after fresh information were revealed.

This included attempting to break his tracking device and a call for a public vigil that could facilitate a potential flight.

Court Filing Details Escape Risks

In a paperwork permitting the detention, the judge said information from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his getaway".

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

His son, Flávio, who works as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his followers near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.

His son wrote on digital networks on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or observe everything from your phone there on your sofa? I invite you to fight with us."

He said the demonstration would be so supporters could "pray for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the magistrate's decision was the chance of his transfer to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a history of planning to ask for protection through a embassy office", a statement said.

The judicial paperwork highlights that the United States embassy in the capital, Brazil's capital, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.

International Reactions

Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative US President Donald Trump, causing him to enact a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.

He is being detained in a national police facility in Brasilia and will experience a custody hearing on the following day.

Recent Judicial Appeals

It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with tracking devices.

They also asked that Bolsonaro be allowed to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he required frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other ailments.

Background on Conviction

The former president was found guilty of heading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the presidential race to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a scheme which encompassed plans to kill his opponent and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.

The conspiracy was prevented because it didn't receive the support of the military leaders. The current president was inaugurated without problem on the first day of 2023.

But a following week, on the eighth of January, numerous his followers attacked and damaged public facilities in the capital, the capital city.

The police took action and around approximately 1,500 persons were taken into custody.

The justices found that the protesters had been provoked by him whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.

At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.

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

The one-time head of state called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the next presidential race.