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Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.

The ex-president was found guilty of orchestrating a military coup in last fall and handed more than 27 years in incarceration, but he remained under house arrest pending legal challenges.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" emerged.

This encompassed attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a summons to a public vigil that could "allow for a potential flight.

Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns

In a paperwork permitting the arrest, Justice Moraes said data from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his escape.

This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.

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

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on last Friday: Will you battle for your homeland, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your couch? I call on you to struggle with us."

He said the gathering would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his health and for the return of democracy in our nation."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the possibility of Bolsonaro's move to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a background of planning to ask for protection through a consular facility", a declaration said.

The court filing emphasizes that the US embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.

Global Responses

His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist US President Donald Trump, causing him to impose a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.

The former president is being detained in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will experience a custody hearing on the next day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to allow him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with tracking devices.

They also requested that Bolsonaro be allowed to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he required regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other ailments.

Details of Guilty Verdict

He was found guilty of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the 2022 election to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plot which included plans to assassinate Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.

The scheme was prevented because it couldn't obtain the backing of the military leaders. His successor was sworn in without incident on 1 January 2023.

But a following week, on the eighth of January, numerous his followers stormed and vandalised official structures in the capital, Brasília.

The security forces intervened and around 1,500 people were arrested.

The magistrates found that the rioters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, bring back stability and bring him back to power.

At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence unreasonably severe".

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

The former president called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 presidential election.