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

The ex-president was found guilty of planning a armed takeover in September and given more than a 27-year term in jail, but he continued under house arrest pending appeals.

Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a safety action after fresh information emerged.

This involved seeking to disable his tracking device and a call for a supporters' gathering that could enable a potential flight.

Judicial Records Show Escape Risks

In a document approving the detention, the magistrate said data from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his escape.

This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his offspring.

His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.

His son wrote on online platforms on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or see it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I call on you to fight with us."

He said the gathering would be so supporters could "pray for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of the magistrate's decision was the potential of the former president's "relocation to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a background of arranging to request asylum through a consular facility", a declaration said.

The court filing emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, the capital city, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.

International Reactions

The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow conservative nationalist US President Donald Trump, leading him to impose a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.

The former president is being kept in a Federal Police station in Brazil's capital city and will experience a imprisonment assessment on the following day.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with tracking devices.

They also petitioned that Bolsonaro be allowed to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other ailments.

Context of Sentencing

The former president was found guilty of heading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the national vote to his left-wing rival, Lula.

Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a plot which involved plans to murder his opponent and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.

The scheme was thwarted because it failed to get the backing of the army and air force commanders. Lula was sworn in without issue on January 1st, 2023.

But a seven days after, on January 8th, numerous his followers stormed and vandalised public facilities in the national capital, Brasília.

The security forces stepped in and around 1,500 people were detained.

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

At the moment, the legal team 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 completion of his term.

The ex-leader called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him running in the next presidential race.