The former Brazilian president taken into custody after being deemed a risk of fleeing

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

The ex-president was sentenced of orchestrating a armed takeover in September and given more than over two decades in incarceration, but he was staying under home detention pending legal challenges.

Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" were revealed.

This included seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could enable a possible escape.

Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns

In a filing authorising the arrest, the judge said data from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the tracking monitor to ensure success in his getaway".

This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the protest called by his son.

His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.

The senator wrote on online platforms on last Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your sofa? I urge you to struggle 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."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the judge's ruling was the chance of his transfer to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a record of organizing to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.

The court filing emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, Brasilia, is situated around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.

Global Responses

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

Bolsonaro is being detained in a national police facility in Brasilia and will experience a imprisonment assessment on the following day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with tracking devices.

They also petitioned that Bolsonaro be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he needed regular treatment for lung conditions and other ailments.

Context of Sentencing

Bolsonaro was convicted of heading a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the presidential race to his ideological adversary, President Lula.

Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a scheme which included plans to murder the current president and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.

The plot was thwarted because it didn't receive the endorsement of the armed forces officials. The current president was inaugurated without issue on the first day of 2023.

But a week later, on 8 January, many his followers invaded and destroyed public facilities in the national capital, the capital city.

The law enforcement intervened and around 1,500 people were arrested.

The judges found that the rioters had been encouraged by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, reestablish control and return him to office.

At the period, the legal team called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also banned from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.

The former president called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 national vote.