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

The one-time leader was sentenced of plotting a armed takeover in September and handed more than 27 years in jail, but he remained under home detention pending appeals.

High Court Judge the presiding justice said the action to imprison the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after fresh information were revealed.

This involved seeking to disable his electronic bracelet and a summons to a demonstration that could enable a potential flight.

Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears

In a filing authorising the custody, Justice Moraes said data from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's aim to disable the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his flight.

This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the protest called by his offspring.

His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a legislator, called for a assembly of his backers near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I call on you to fight with us."

He said the gathering would be so supporters could offer prayers for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our nation."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the magistrate's ruling was the possibility of his "relocation to embassies near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of arranging to ask for protection through a embassy office", a statement said.

The court filing highlights that the United States embassy in the capital, the capital city, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.

Worldwide Consequences

His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative American leader Donald Trump, causing him to implement a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.

He is being held in a national police facility in the capital and will experience a custody hearing on the following day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.

They also petitioned that Bolsonaro be permitted to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he required frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other health problems.

Context of Sentencing

The former president was found guilty of heading 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.

Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a plot which encompassed plans to murder Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.

The conspiracy was thwarted because it failed to get the support of the army and air force commanders. Lula was took office without incident on the first day of 2023.

But a seven days after, on 8 January, thousands of his backers invaded and destroyed public facilities in the capital, Brazil's capital.

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

The judges found that the rioters had been provoked by him whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, reestablish control and bring him back to power.

At the time, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.

He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the completion of his term.

The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a targeted investigation" and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 presidential election.