The former Brazilian president arrested after being deemed a flight risk

Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.

The former head of state was sentenced of plotting a military coup in the ninth month and given more than over two decades in incarceration, but he remained under house arrest pending legal challenges.

High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after fresh information came to light.

This included trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a invitation to a public vigil that could enable a possible escape.

Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks

In a paperwork permitting the custody, the judge said intelligence from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his flight.

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

His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his followers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.

His son wrote on social media on the previous day: Will you battle for your country, or watch it all from your phone there on your settee? I call on you to fight with us."

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

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the possibility of his move to foreign missions near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a history of arranging to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.

The judicial paperwork underscores that the United States embassy in the national capital, Brasilia, is located around 8 miles from the former president's residence.

Global Responses

His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist United States President Donald Trump, causing him to enact a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.

He is being held in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will experience a custody hearing on the next day.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the High Court to authorize him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with digital surveillance.

They also asked that Bolsonaro be authorized to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he required frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other ailments.

Background on Conviction

He was convicted of heading a conspiracy aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the national vote to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Top judicial officials said that he knew of a scheme which encompassed plans to kill his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over the former president's case.

The conspiracy was thwarted because it didn't receive the backing of the armed forces officials. His successor was took office without issue on 1 January 2023.

But a following week, on 8 January, many his backers invaded and destroyed government buildings in the capital, Brasília.

The police stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.

The judges found that the demonstrators had been incited by him whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.

At the time, his attorneys called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.

He was also barred from running for public office until twenty-sixty - eight years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.

The ex-leader called the court case a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 presidential election.