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Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.

The one-time leader was convicted of orchestrating a government overthrow in September and handed more than 27 years in prison, but he continued under home detention pending legal challenges.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" came to light.

This encompassed attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a summons to a public vigil that could facilitate a potential flight.

Court Filing Details Flight Fears

In a paperwork permitting the arrest, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his flight.

This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his child.

His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, 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 digital networks on the previous day: Will you battle for your nation, or see it all from your phone there on your couch? I call on you to battle with us."

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

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of the judge's ruling was the chance of his "relocation to embassies near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of organizing to request asylum through a consular facility", a announcement said.

The judicial paperwork highlights that the US embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is located around 8 miles from the former president's residence.

Global Responses

His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist US President Trump, prompting him to implement a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods.

The former president is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will experience a detention review on Sunday.

Recent Judicial Appeals

It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with tracking devices.

They also asked that Bolsonaro be permitted to exit his dwelling for medical treatment, saying he needed ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.

Background on Conviction

Bolsonaro was determined responsible of heading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the presidential race to his ideological adversary, President Lula.

High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a plan which encompassed plans to murder Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been presiding over the former president's case.

The scheme was prevented because it failed to get the support of the military leaders. The current president was sworn in without issue on 1 January 2023.

But a following week, on January 8th, numerous his followers attacked and damaged official structures in the capital, the capital city.

The police took action and around 1,500 people were arrested.

The justices found that the protesters had been encouraged by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, bring back stability and bring him back to power.

At the moment, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence extremely harsh.

He was also banned from running for public office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.

The former president called the court case a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 presidential election.