The former Brazilian president arrested after being declared a risk of fleeing
Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was convicted of planning a government overthrow in September and sentenced more than over two decades in prison, but he remained under house arrest pending court reviews.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the action to imprison the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" emerged.
This included trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Escape Risks
In a paperwork permitting the custody, Justice Moraes said information from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to secure accomplishment in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the protest called by his child.
His child, Flávio, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his backers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on digital networks on Friday: Will you battle for your country, or see it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I invite you to fight with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the possibility of his "relocation to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of planning to ask for protection through a embassy office", a announcement said.
The court filing emphasizes that the United States embassy in the national capital, Brasilia, is positioned around 13km from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist US President Donald Trump, leading him to impose a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
Bolsonaro is being held in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will experience a detention review on Sunday.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the Top Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also asked that Bolsonaro be authorized to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he required regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.
Background on Conviction
He was determined responsible of heading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Lula.
High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a plan which encompassed plans to murder the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was prevented because it couldn't obtain the support of the army and air force commanders. The current president was took office without issue on 1 January 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, thousands of his backers attacked and damaged public facilities in the federal district, Brazil's capital.
The law enforcement stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.
The magistrates found that the protesters had been incited by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to step in, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him competing in the 2026 national vote.