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Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.

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

Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" came to light.

This involved seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a call for a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a potential flight.

Judicial Records Show Escape Risks

In a filing authorising the custody, the judge said information from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's "intention to break the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his flight.

This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.

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

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on the previous day: Will you battle for your country, or see it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I urge you to fight with us."

He said the gathering would be so followers could offer prayers for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our nation."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the possibility of his "relocation to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a background of organizing to ask for protection through a consular facility", a announcement said.

The judicial paperwork underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, Brasilia, is positioned around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.

Global Responses

His judicial problems have generated frustration from fellow conservative nationalist US President Donald Trump, leading him to implement a 50% tariff on goods coming from Brazil.

The former president is being held in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will have a detention review on the next day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the High Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with tracking devices.

They also asked that the former president be authorized to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he required regular treatment for lung conditions and other health problems.

Background on Conviction

The former president was determined responsible of orchestrating a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a plan which included plans to murder his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been overseeing the former president's case.

The scheme was prevented because it failed to get the endorsement of the armed forces officials. The current president was took office without issue on 1 January 2023.

But a seven days after, on 8 January, thousands of his followers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the national capital, Brasília.

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

The judges found that the demonstrators had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, bring back stability and bring him back to power.

At the period, the legal team called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.

He was also barred from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.

The one-time head of state called the trial a targeted investigation" and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 presidential election.