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

The one-time leader was found guilty of orchestrating a armed takeover in last fall and handed more than a 27-year term in prison, but he was staying under house arrest pending appeals.

Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after recent developments emerged.

This involved seeking to disable his tracking device and a summons to a demonstration that could "allow for a possible escape.

Court Filing Details Escape Risks

In a document approving the custody, the judge said intelligence from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his flight.

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

His son, Flávio, who works as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.

His son wrote on social media on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or watch it all from your phone there on your couch? I invite you to fight with us."

He said the demonstration would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the magistrate's ruling was the potential of Bolsonaro's move to foreign missions near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of arranging to request asylum through a consular facility", a announcement said.

The legal document emphasizes that the US embassy in the federal district, Brasilia, is positioned around 13km from his dwelling.

Global Responses

The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow conservative nationalist American leader Trump, leading him to implement a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.

The former president is being held in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will have a custody hearing on the following day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with digital surveillance.

They also petitioned that he be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical treatment, saying he demanded ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other health problems.

Context of Sentencing

Bolsonaro was found guilty of orchestrating a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the presidential race to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a plot which involved plans to assassinate Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.

The scheme was thwarted because it failed to get the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. The current president was took office without incident on 1 January 2023.

But a seven days after, on January 8th, many Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged official structures in the capital, Brasília.

The police stepped in and around 1,500 people were detained.

The judges found that the rioters had been provoked by him whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to take action, restore order and reinstate his authority.

At the time, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also banned from running for public office until twenty-sixty - eight years after the completion of his term.

The former president called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him competing in the 2026 presidential election.