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Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.

The one-time leader was found guilty of planning a military coup in September and sentenced more than over two decades in incarceration, but he remained under confinement pending legal challenges.

Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after "new facts" came to light.

This encompassed seeking to disable his electronic bracelet and a summons to a demonstration that could enable a possible escape.

Judicial Records Show Flight Fears

In a document approving the arrest, Justice Moraes said data from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the surveillance device to ensure success in his getaway".

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

His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on online platforms on the previous day: Will you battle for your homeland, or see it all from your phone there on your settee? I call on you to fight with us."

He said the vigil would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our land."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the potential of the former president's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of arranging to ask for protection through a embassy office", a announcement said.

The legal document highlights that the US embassy in the capital, Brasilia, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from his dwelling.

Worldwide Consequences

Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist American leader Trump, prompting him to impose a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.

He is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will experience a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.

Recent Judicial Appeals

It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to permit him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.

They also petitioned that he be permitted to leave his home for medical care, saying he needed ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other health problems.

Background on Conviction

He was found guilty of orchestrating a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the presidential race to his left-wing rival, President Lula.

Top judicial officials said that he was aware of a plot which included plans to kill Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been presiding over the former president's case.

The scheme was prevented because it didn't receive the support of the armed forces officials. His successor was sworn in without issue on the first day of 2023.

But a week later, on 8 January, thousands of his followers stormed and vandalised official structures in the capital, the capital city.

The law enforcement stepped in and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.

The justices found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, bring back stability and bring him back to power.

At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also banned from running for public office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.

The former president called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the 2026 presidential election.