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Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.

The ex-president was sentenced of orchestrating a armed takeover in the ninth month and handed more than over two decades in jail, but he continued under home detention pending appeals.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a safety action after "new facts" were revealed.

This encompassed seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a potential flight.

Court Filing Details Escape Risks

In a paperwork permitting the custody, Justice Moraes said information from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his getaway".

This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the protest called by his child.

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

His son wrote on social media on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or see it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I invite you to struggle with us."

He said the gathering would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the chance of Bolsonaro's "relocation to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a record of organizing to ask for protection through a embassy office", a announcement said.

The court filing underscores that the US embassy in the capital, the capital city, is situated around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.

Worldwide Consequences

The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist US President President Trump, causing him to impose a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.

The former president is being detained in a national police facility in the capital and will have a custody hearing on Sunday.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.

They also petitioned that the former president be authorized to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he demanded regular treatment for lung conditions and other ailments.

Details of Guilty Verdict

The former president was determined responsible of orchestrating a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the national vote to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plot which included plans to murder the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been managing his judicial proceedings.

The scheme was stopped because it couldn't obtain the support of the army and air force commanders. His successor was sworn in without issue on the first day of 2023.

But a following week, on 8 January, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed public facilities in the capital, Brasília.

The police took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.

The justices found that the demonstrators had been incited by him whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to step in, reestablish control and return him to office.

At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence extremely harsh.

He was also barred from seeking elected position until 2060 - eight years later after the conclusion of his imprisonment.

The former president called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 presidential election.