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The former Brazilian leader has been arrested after authorities found he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.

The ex-president was convicted of plotting a government overthrow in the ninth month and handed more than 27 years in jail, but he was staying under confinement pending appeals.

Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a precautionary step after recent developments emerged.

This included trying to remove his tracking device and a call for a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a possible escape.

Judicial Records Show Escape Risks

In a paperwork permitting the custody, Justice Moraes said data from the unit overseeing his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the surveillance device to ensure success in his escape.

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

His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his backers near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on online platforms on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or watch it all from your phone there on your settee? I urge you to battle with us."

He said the gathering would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his health and for the return of democracy in our country."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the judge's ruling was the chance of his transfer to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of organizing to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.

The legal document highlights that the United States embassy in the capital, Brasilia, is positioned around 13km from his dwelling.

International Reactions

His judicial problems have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist United States President Trump, leading him to impose a 50% tariff on goods coming from Brazil.

The former president is being held in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will experience a custody hearing on the next day.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.

They also asked that he be allowed to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he needed ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other ailments.

Details of Guilty Verdict

Bolsonaro was found guilty of heading a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Lula.

High Court judges said that he was aware of a scheme which involved plans to kill the current president and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.

The scheme was thwarted because it failed to get the backing of the military leaders. The current president was sworn in without problem on 1 January 2023.

But a following week, on the eighth of January, numerous his followers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the federal district, Brasília.

The law enforcement took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.

The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been incited by Bolsonaro whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, bring back stability 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 campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the completion of his term.

The ex-leader called the court case a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the next presidential race.