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Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under home confinement.

The former head of state was sentenced of planning a military coup in last fall and given more than over two decades in prison, but he was staying under confinement pending appeals.

Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a safety action after fresh information came to light.

This encompassed attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a invitation to a supporters' gathering that could enable a potential flight.

Judicial Records Show Flight Fears

In a filing authorising the detention, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's plan to remove the tracking monitor to ensure success in his getaway".

This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his son.

His child, his son Flávio, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.

His son wrote on digital networks on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your country, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your sofa? I invite you to battle with us."

He said the demonstration would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our nation."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the judge's determination was the chance of Bolsonaro's "relocation to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a background of organizing to ask for protection through a consular facility", a declaration said.

The legal document highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, Brazil's capital, is located around 8 miles from the former president's residence.

International Reactions

The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative American leader Donald Trump, causing him to impose a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports.

Bolsonaro is being detained in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will experience a detention review on the following day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.

They also asked that he be permitted to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he required regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other health problems.

Details of Guilty Verdict

He was found guilty of orchestrating a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the presidential race to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plot which included plans to murder his opponent and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been managing his judicial proceedings.

The scheme was stopped because it failed to get the backing of the armed forces officials. The current president was sworn in without issue on January 1st, 2023.

But a following week, on the eighth of January, many his followers stormed and vandalised official structures in the capital, Brazil's capital.

The law enforcement stepped in and around approximately 1,500 persons were taken into custody.

The judges found that the protesters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to take action, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.

At the moment, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".

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

The former president called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the 2026 national vote.