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

The ex-president was sentenced of plotting a government overthrow in September and handed more than over two decades in jail, but he was staying under home detention pending legal challenges.

Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after fresh information emerged.

This encompassed trying to remove his ankle monitor and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a chance to flee".

Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns

In a document approving the arrest, the judge said information from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his flight.

This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the protest called by his offspring.

His son, his son Flávio, who holds office as a senator, called for a assembly of his supporters near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on online platforms on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or see it all from your mobile device there on your sofa? I invite you to fight with us."

He said the vigil would be so supporters could "pray for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our country."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the judge's ruling was the chance of the former president's "relocation to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a record of arranging to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.

The legal document highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, the capital city, is positioned around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.

International Reactions

His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist United States President Trump, causing him to enact a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.

He is being kept in a Federal Police station in the capital and will experience a imprisonment assessment on the following day.

Latest Court Petitions

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

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

Context of Sentencing

Bolsonaro was determined responsible of leading a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the 2022 election to his political opponent, President Lula.

Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a plan which included plans to murder Lula and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.

The plot was thwarted because it didn't receive the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. The current president was took office without issue on January 1st, 2023.

But a following week, on 8 January, thousands of his followers invaded and destroyed official structures in the capital, the capital city.

The security forces took action and around approximately 1,500 persons were detained.

The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been incited by him whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, reestablish control and bring him back to power.

At the time, the legal team called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.

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

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 presidential election.