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

The former head of state was sentenced of plotting a armed takeover in last fall and given more than over two decades in prison, but he continued under home detention pending court reviews.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after "new facts" came to light.

This included trying to remove his tracking device and a summons to a demonstration that could enable a possible escape.

Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks

In a filing authorising the custody, Justice Moraes said information from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the surveillance device to ensure success in his escape.

This, it said, would be "facilitated by the confusion caused by the gathering called by his offspring.

His offspring, Flávio, who serves as a senator, called for a gathering of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your country, or observe everything from your phone there on your sofa? I invite you to struggle with us."

He said the gathering would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the chance of his move to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a record of planning to request asylum through a embassy office", a statement said.

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

Global Responses

Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow conservative nationalist United States President President Trump, causing him to enact a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.

He is being held in a national police facility in the capital and will have a detention review on the following day.

Recent Legal Requests

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

They also petitioned that Bolsonaro be allowed to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he needed regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other ailments.

Context of Sentencing

Bolsonaro was convicted of heading a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, President Lula.

Top judicial officials said that he was aware of a plot which encompassed plans to assassinate the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.

The plot was thwarted because it didn't receive the endorsement of the military leaders. The current president was sworn in without incident on the first day of 2023.

But a week later, on 8 January, numerous his followers attacked and damaged government buildings in the national capital, the capital city.

The law enforcement stepped in and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.

The justices found that the demonstrators had been incited by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to take action, reestablish control and bring him back to power.

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

He was also banned from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - eight years after the end of his sentence.

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