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Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.

The ex-president was sentenced of orchestrating a government overthrow in the ninth month and handed more than over two decades in prison, but he remained under confinement pending court reviews.

Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" came to light.

This encompassed trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a summons to a public vigil that could facilitate a potential flight.

Court Filing Details Flight Fears

In a filing authorising the arrest, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's plan to remove the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his getaway".

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

His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.

His son wrote on online platforms on the previous day: Will you battle for your nation, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your settee? I urge you to battle with us."

He said the demonstration would be so backers could "pray for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our nation."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the potential of Bolsonaro's "relocation to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a background of arranging to ask for protection through a consular facility", a declaration said.

The legal document emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, Brazil's capital, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from his dwelling.

Global Responses

His judicial problems have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist American leader President Trump, causing him to impose a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.

The former president is being kept in a Federal Police station in Brazil's capital city and will have a imprisonment assessment on the next day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.

They also asked that the former president be authorized to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he demanded ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.

Background on Conviction

He was determined responsible of heading a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, President Lula.

Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plot which encompassed plans to assassinate Lula and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official 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. Lula was sworn in without incident on 1 January 2023.

But a following week, on January 8th, numerous Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged government buildings in the federal district, Brazil's capital.

The police took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.

The justices found that the demonstrators had been provoked by him whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, bring back stability and return him to office.

At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.

He was also barred from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years after the completion of his term.

The ex-leader called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the next presidential race.