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The former Brazilian leader has been arrested after authorities found he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.

The former head of state was sentenced of planning a government overthrow in the ninth month and handed more than 27 years in jail, but he remained under home detention pending appeals.

Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after recent developments were revealed.

This encompassed attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a call for a public vigil that could "allow for a potential flight.

Judicial Records Show Flight Fears

In a paperwork permitting the custody, Justice Moraes said information from the unit overseeing his home detention 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 made easier by the confusion caused by the protest called by his son.

His offspring, Flávio, who works as a legislator, called for a meeting of his followers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on last Friday: Will you battle for your homeland, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your couch? I call on you to struggle with us."

He said the vigil would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the potential of the former president's move to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a history of organizing to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.

The court filing emphasizes that the United States embassy in the capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around 13km from his dwelling.

International Reactions

Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative United States President President Trump, leading him to impose a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports.

Bolsonaro is being kept in a Federal Police station in the capital and will undergo a detention review on the next day.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with tracking devices.

They also requested that he be permitted to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he demanded ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other ailments.

Background on Conviction

He was found guilty of leading a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he was defeated in the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a scheme which involved plans to kill the current president and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been presiding over the former president's case.

The scheme was thwarted because it didn't receive the backing of the armed forces officials. Lula was sworn in without issue on January 1st, 2023.

But a following week, on the eighth of January, numerous his followers invaded and destroyed government buildings in the national capital, Brazil's capital.

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

The justices found that the protesters had been provoked by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.

At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.

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

The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 presidential election.