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Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under domestic detention.

The one-time leader was found guilty of planning a government overthrow in the ninth month and given more than over two decades in prison, but he continued under home detention pending court reviews.

Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" emerged.

This included seeking to disable his tracking device and a call for a demonstration that could enable a potential flight.

Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns

In a filing authorising the arrest, the magistrate said data from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his getaway".

This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the gathering called by his child.

His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a senator, called for a assembly of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.

His son wrote on digital networks on last Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or observe everything from your phone there on your sofa? I call on you to struggle with us."

He said the demonstration would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the magistrate's ruling was the chance of the former president's "relocation to embassies near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of planning to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.

The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, the capital city, is positioned around 13km from the former president's residence.

Global Responses

The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist United States President President Trump, prompting him to implement a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.

He is being detained in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will undergo a detention review on Sunday.

Recent Judicial Appeals

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

They also petitioned that Bolsonaro be authorized to leave his home for healthcare, saying he needed ongoing care for lung conditions and other illnesses.

Context of Sentencing

Bolsonaro was convicted of orchestrating a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the presidential race to his ideological adversary, President Lula.

Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a plan which encompassed plans to murder Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.

The scheme was stopped because it failed to get the support of the armed forces officials. His successor was took office without incident on 1 January 2023.

But a week later, on January 8th, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised official structures in the federal district, Brazil's capital.

The police intervened and around 1,500 people were detained.

The judges found that the demonstrators had been incited by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.

At the period, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.

He was also prohibited from running for public office until the year 2060 - eight years later after the end of his sentence.

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