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

The one-time leader was found guilty of orchestrating a government overthrow in the ninth month and handed more than over two decades in jail, but he remained under house arrest pending court reviews.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after fresh information were revealed.

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

Court Filing Details Escape Risks

In a paperwork permitting the custody, Justice Moraes said information from the unit overseeing his home detention suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his escape.

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

His offspring, his son Flávio, who holds office as a senator, called for a gathering of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.

The senator wrote on digital networks on last Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or see it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I call on you to battle with us."

He said the vigil would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the potential of Bolsonaro's "relocation to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a history of organizing to seek refuge through a embassy office", a declaration said.

The court filing highlights that the United States embassy in the federal district, Brazil's capital, is situated around 8 miles from his dwelling.

Global Responses

The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist US President Trump, causing him to impose a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.

The former president is being kept in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will undergo a custody hearing on the following day.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to allow him to complete his entire prison term under house arrest, with tracking devices.

They also requested that Bolsonaro be permitted to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he required frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other health problems.

Background on Conviction

The former president was found guilty of orchestrating a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, President Lula.

High Court judges said that he knew of a plot which involved plans to kill the current president and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been overseeing the former president's case.

The conspiracy was stopped because it didn't receive the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. Lula was inaugurated without incident on the first day of 2023.

But a week later, on the eighth of January, thousands of his backers invaded and destroyed official structures in the federal district, the capital city.

The police intervened and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.

The justices found that the protesters had been provoked by him whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.

At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.

He was also banned from campaigning for office until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.

The one-time head of state called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the 2026 national vote.