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Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.

The former head of state was convicted of orchestrating a armed takeover in the ninth month and given more than 27 years in prison, but he was staying under house arrest pending legal challenges.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after fresh information came to light.

This involved attempting to break his tracking device and a call for a demonstration that could enable a potential flight.

Court Filing Details Escape Risks

In a filing authorising the custody, the judge said information from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's "intention to break the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his getaway".

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

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

The senator wrote on social media on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your sofa? I call on you to fight with us."

He said the demonstration would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our nation."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of the judge's ruling was the chance of the former president's transfer to embassies near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a background of planning to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.

The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, Brasilia, is positioned around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.

Worldwide Consequences

The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist US President Donald Trump, leading him to impose a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports.

The former president is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will have a custody hearing on the next day.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on the previous day that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to authorize him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with tracking devices.

They also petitioned that the former president be allowed to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he needed ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.

Background on Conviction

He was found guilty of heading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the national vote to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Top judicial officials said that he knew of a plan which involved plans to murder Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.

The plot was thwarted because it didn't receive the endorsement of the military leaders. The current president was inaugurated without issue on 1 January 2023.

But a seven days after, on January 8th, many his backers invaded and destroyed public facilities in the federal district, the capital city.

The security forces took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.

The judges found that the demonstrators had been provoked by him whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to step in, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.

At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".

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

The ex-leader called the court case a targeted investigation" and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 national vote.