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

The one-time leader was convicted of plotting a armed takeover in last fall and sentenced more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he continued under confinement pending legal challenges.

Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after recent developments emerged.

This involved trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a invitation to a demonstration that could facilitate a potential flight.

Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns

In a paperwork permitting the custody, the judge said information from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the tracking monitor to ensure success in his escape.

This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his son.

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

The senator wrote on online platforms on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your country, or see it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I urge you to struggle 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."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the judge's determination was the possibility of the former president's "relocation to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a record of planning to request asylum through a consular facility", a statement said.

The judicial paperwork highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, the capital city, is situated around 8 miles from his dwelling.

Worldwide Consequences

Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative US President Trump, prompting him to enact a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.

The former president is being kept in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a custody hearing on the following day.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to permit him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.

They also requested that the former president be permitted to leave his home for medical care, saying he required ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other health problems.

Background on Conviction

He was determined responsible of heading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the national vote to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plot which involved plans to murder Lula and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been overseeing his judicial proceedings.

The plot was prevented because it failed to get the endorsement of the military leaders. The current president was sworn in without incident on the first day of 2023.

But a seven days after, on January 8th, numerous Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised government buildings in the capital, Brazil's capital.

The police stepped in and around 1,500 people were arrested.

The justices found that the demonstrators had been provoked by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, restore order and bring him back to power.

At the moment, the legal team called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also barred from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - eight years after the end of his sentence.

The one-time head of state called the trial a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 presidential election.