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Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.

The one-time leader was sentenced of planning a armed takeover in September and sentenced more than over two decades in jail, but he remained under confinement pending appeals.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after fresh information emerged.

This involved attempting to break his ankle monitor and a call for a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a chance to flee".

Judicial Records Show Escape Risks

In a filing authorising the detention, the judge said intelligence from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the surveillance device to ensure success in his escape.

This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his son.

His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a senator, called for a meeting of his followers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.

His son wrote on social media on last Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or see it all from your smartphone there on your sofa? I call on you to battle with us."

He said the demonstration would be so supporters could "pray for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our country."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the chance of the former president's transfer to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a history of organizing to request asylum through a consular facility", a statement said.

The judicial paperwork underscores that the US embassy in the capital, the capital city, is situated around 13km from the former president's residence.

Worldwide Consequences

His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist US President Trump, leading him to implement a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports.

He is being detained in a Federal Police station in the capital and will undergo a detention review on the following day.

Recent Judicial Appeals

It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to permit him to complete his entire prison term under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.

They also petitioned that the former president be authorized to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he demanded ongoing care for lung conditions and other health problems.

Context of Sentencing

The former president was determined responsible of leading a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the national vote to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a scheme which encompassed plans to kill Lula and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing the former president's case.

The scheme was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the support of the army and air force commanders. His successor was sworn in without issue on January 1st, 2023.

But a following week, on the eighth of January, thousands of his followers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the national capital, Brasília.

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

The judges found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by him whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, bring back stability and return him to office.

At the time, the legal team called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also barred from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight 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 running in the 2026 national vote.