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Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.

The one-time leader was sentenced of orchestrating a military coup in last fall and handed more than a 27-year term in prison, but he remained under confinement pending court reviews.

High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after fresh information were revealed.

This included seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a call for a demonstration that could "allow for a potential flight.

Judicial Records Show Escape Risks

In a document approving the detention, the magistrate said intelligence from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the tracking monitor to ensure success in his escape.

This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his son.

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

His son wrote on social media on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your country, or watch it all from your phone there on your couch? I call on you to struggle with us."

He said the vigil would be so backers could offer prayers for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the potential of the former president's "relocation to embassies near the home, considering that the probes revealed a history of arranging to request asylum through a embassy office", a statement said.

The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the United States embassy in the capital, the capital city, is positioned around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.

International Reactions

Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist United States President President Trump, causing him to enact a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.

Bolsonaro is being detained in a Federal Police station in the capital and will experience a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to permit him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.

They also petitioned that the former president be allowed to leave his home for healthcare, saying he needed ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other health problems.

Context of Sentencing

He was convicted of orchestrating a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the presidential race to his ideological adversary, President Lula.

High Court judges said that he was aware of a plot which involved plans to kill his opponent and his running partner, Alckmin, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.

The plot was thwarted because it didn't receive the support of the armed forces officials. The current president was sworn in without incident on the first day of 2023.

But a seven days after, on 8 January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised official structures in the capital, Brasília.

The law enforcement took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.

The judges found that the demonstrators had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, restore order and reinstate his authority.

At the period, his attorneys called the over 27-year sentence extremely harsh.

He was also barred from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the end of his sentence.

The ex-leader called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him running in the 2026 national vote.