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Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities determined he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.

The former head of state was sentenced of orchestrating a armed takeover in September and given more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he was staying under house arrest pending court reviews.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a preventative measure after fresh information emerged.

This encompassed seeking to disable his electronic bracelet and a call for a demonstration that could enable a potential flight.

Judicial Records Show Flight Fears

In a document approving the custody, the judge said information from the unit overseeing his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his getaway".

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

His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a senator, called for a meeting of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on the previous day: Will you battle for your nation, or see it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I invite you to struggle with us."

He said the demonstration would be so supporters could "pray for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our country."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the judge's determination was the possibility of the former president's move to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a history of planning to ask for protection through a embassy office", a announcement said.

The court filing underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, Brasilia, is positioned around 13km from his dwelling.

Global Responses

Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative US President Trump, prompting him to impose a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.

Bolsonaro is being kept in a national police facility in Brasilia and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on the next day.

Recent Judicial Appeals

It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.

They also asked that the former president be allowed to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he needed regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other health problems.

Background on Conviction

He was convicted of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the 2022 election to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plot which included plans to kill the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been presiding over the former president's case.

The plot was thwarted because it didn't receive the backing of the military leaders. His successor was sworn in without incident on the first day of 2023.

But a week later, on January 8th, thousands of his followers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the national capital, Brasília.

The security forces intervened and around 1,500 people were arrested.

The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, reestablish control and return him to office.

At the period, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.

He was also banned from running for public office until 2060 - eight years after the completion of his term.

The former president called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him running in the 2026 national vote.