The U.S. State Department has indicated it is “gravely concerned” about the Brazilian police’s arrest of former President Jair Bolsonaro early Saturday morning, which was done over fears he would try to escape and avoid a 27-year prison sentence.

Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau called the arrest, ordered by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes after Bolsonaro’s ankle monitor was breached while under house arrest, “provocative and unnecessary,” all while trashing Moraes as “dangerous to democracy.”