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Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.

The ex-president was found guilty of plotting a government overthrow in September and sentenced more than 27 years in prison, but he remained under house arrest pending legal challenges.

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

This included trying to remove his tracking device and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a potential flight.

Judicial Records Show Flight Fears

In a document approving the detention, the magistrate said information from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the tracking monitor to ensure success in his getaway".

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

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

His son wrote on online platforms on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your country, or see it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I call on you to struggle with us."

He said the vigil would be so supporters could "pray for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the potential of the former president's "relocation to embassies near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of organizing to seek refuge through a consular facility", a declaration said.

The court filing emphasizes that the United States embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from his dwelling.

International Reactions

The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative US President President Trump, causing him to implement a 50% tariff on imports of Brazilian goods.

Bolsonaro is being kept in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will undergo a custody hearing on the next day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the High Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with digital surveillance.

They also petitioned that he be permitted to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he required regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other ailments.

Details of Guilty Verdict

The former president was determined responsible of orchestrating a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

High Court judges said that he was aware of a scheme which involved plans to kill Lula and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing his judicial proceedings.

The conspiracy was stopped because it failed to get the backing of the armed forces officials. Lula was took office without incident on January 1st, 2023.

But a following week, on January 8th, thousands of his backers invaded and destroyed public facilities in the national capital, the capital city.

The police intervened and around 1,500 people were detained.

The judges found that the rioters had been incited by him whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, reestablish control and return him to office.

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

He was also prohibited 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 trial a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the 2026 national vote.