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The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.

The ex-president was sentenced of orchestrating a government overthrow in September and handed more than over two decades in jail, but he continued under confinement pending legal challenges.

High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" came to light.

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

Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns

In a paperwork permitting the arrest, the magistrate said data from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the tracking monitor to ensure success in his getaway".

This, it said, would be assisted by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.

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

His son wrote on social media on last Friday: Will you battle for your homeland, or see it all from your smartphone there on your sofa? I call on you to battle with us."

He said the vigil would be so backers could "pray for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our nation."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the possibility of the former president's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a background of organizing to ask for protection through a consular facility", a declaration said.

The court filing underscores that the United States embassy in the capital, Brasilia, is located around 13km from the former president's residence.

International Reactions

The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist American leader President Trump, prompting him to enact a 50% tariff on imports of Brazilian goods.

Bolsonaro is being held in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will experience a imprisonment assessment on the next day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to authorize him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with electronic monitoring.

They also requested that Bolsonaro be permitted to leave his home for healthcare, saying he demanded ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other ailments.

Background on Conviction

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

Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a scheme which involved plans to murder his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over the former president's case.

The conspiracy was stopped because it didn't receive the endorsement of the armed forces officials. The current president was sworn in without problem on the first day of 2023.

But a seven days after, on January 8th, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed official structures in the national capital, Brasília.

The police took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.

The justices found that the protesters had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to take action, restore order and bring him back to power.

At the moment, the legal team called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.

He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until the year 2060 - eight years later after the completion of his term.

The one-time head of state called the trial a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 presidential election.