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Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.

The one-time leader was sentenced of orchestrating a government overthrow in last fall and given more than 27 years in incarceration, but he was staying under house arrest pending legal challenges.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after recent developments were revealed.

This encompassed attempting to break his tracking device and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could enable a potential flight.

Court Filing Details Escape Concerns

In a document approving the custody, the magistrate said information from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's plan to remove the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his escape.

This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the protest called by his child.

His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a legislator, called for a gathering of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.

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

He said the demonstration would be so supporters could "pray for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our land."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of the judge's ruling was the possibility of his transfer to embassies near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a history of organizing to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.

The judicial paperwork highlights that the United States embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is positioned around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.

International Reactions

His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative US President Trump, prompting him to implement a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods.

The former president is being held in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will experience a custody hearing on the next day.

Recent Judicial Appeals

It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.

They also petitioned that he be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other ailments.

Details of Guilty Verdict

He was convicted of heading a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a plan which encompassed plans to kill his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over the former president's case.

The plot was thwarted because it didn't receive the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. The current president was sworn in without issue on 1 January 2023.

But a following week, on the eighth of January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed government buildings in the federal district, the capital city.

The law enforcement intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.

The magistrates found that the protesters had been incited by him whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, reestablish control and return him to office.

At the time, the legal team called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.

He was also barred from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.

The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a targeted investigation" and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the 2026 national vote.