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Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a definite escape threat while under home confinement.

The former head of state was found guilty of orchestrating a military coup in September and given more than 27 years in jail, but he continued under house arrest pending court reviews.

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

This encompassed seeking to disable his tracking device and a invitation to a public vigil that could facilitate a possible escape.

Judicial Records Show Escape Risks

In a document approving the arrest, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his escape.

This, it said, would be "facilitated by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.

His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a legislator, called for a meeting of his followers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.

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

He said the gathering would be so supporters could "pray for his health and for the return of democracy in our land."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the magistrate's determination was the possibility of Bolsonaro's "relocation to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of arranging to request asylum through a embassy office", a statement said.

The legal document highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from his dwelling.

Worldwide Consequences

The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow right-wing populist American leader Donald Trump, causing him to impose a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.

Bolsonaro is being kept in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on the following day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on the previous day that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with digital surveillance.

They also asked that he be authorized to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he needed regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.

Context of Sentencing

Bolsonaro was convicted of leading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the presidential race to his political opponent, Lula.

Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a plan which involved plans to murder Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been overseeing the former president's case.

The plot was prevented because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the armed forces officials. Lula was took office without issue on the first day of 2023.

But a following week, on 8 January, many his backers stormed and vandalised public facilities in the capital, the capital city.

The police took action and around 1,500 people were arrested.

The justices found that the protesters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.

At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".

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

The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the next presidential race.