The former Brazilian president taken into custody after being considered a escape threat

Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.

The ex-president was found guilty of orchestrating a military coup in the ninth month and handed more than a 27-year term in jail, but he continued under house arrest pending appeals.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a safety action after recent developments emerged.

This involved attempting to break his tracking device and a summons to a demonstration that could facilitate a possible escape.

Court Filing Details Escape Concerns

In a document approving the arrest, the judge said intelligence from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the former leader's plan to remove the tracking monitor to ensure success in his escape.

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

His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.

His son wrote on social media on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or see it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I urge you to struggle with us."

He said the gathering would be so backers could "pray for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the chance of Bolsonaro's move to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a history of arranging to seek refuge through a embassy office", a announcement said.

The legal document emphasizes that the United States embassy in the federal district, Brasilia, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.

Worldwide Consequences

His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist US President President Trump, leading him to enact a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports.

He is being held in a Federal Police station in the capital and will experience a detention review on Sunday.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to permit him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with tracking devices.

They also asked that Bolsonaro be permitted to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he needed frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other illnesses.

Context of Sentencing

He was found guilty of orchestrating a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the national vote to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a scheme which included plans to murder the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over the former president's case.

The scheme was prevented because it couldn't obtain the backing of the army and air force commanders. The current president was took office without issue on the first day of 2023.

But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised public facilities in the national capital, Brasília.

The security forces took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.

The magistrates found that the protesters had been encouraged by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, bring back stability and return him to office.

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

He was also prohibited from running for public office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the completion of his term.

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