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Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.

The one-time leader was convicted of plotting a armed takeover in September and given more than over two decades in jail, but he remained under house arrest pending legal challenges.

Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" came to light.

This encompassed seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a summons to a demonstration that could "allow for a possible escape.

Judicial Records Show Flight Fears

In a document approving the custody, Justice Moraes said data from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the surveillance device 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 child, Flávio, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his supporters near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.

The senator wrote on online platforms on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your sofa? I urge you to fight with us."

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

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of the magistrate's decision was the possibility of Bolsonaro's move to embassies near the home, considering that the probes revealed a history of planning to seek refuge through a consular facility", a statement said.

The legal document highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, the capital city, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.

International Reactions

Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist American leader Donald Trump, causing him to impose a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.

The former president is being held in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will have a custody hearing on the next day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.

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

Context of Sentencing

He was found guilty of leading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the presidential race to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plot which included plans to kill his opponent and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing the former president's case.

The conspiracy was prevented because it failed to get the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. The current president was sworn in without problem on the first day of 2023.

But a following week, on 8 January, many his followers invaded and destroyed public facilities in the capital, Brazil's capital.

The police took action and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.

The judges found that the rioters had been incited by him whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, restore order and bring him back to power.

At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.

He was also prohibited from running for public office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the end of his sentence.

The one-time head of state called the trial a targeted investigation" and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 national vote.