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Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.

The ex-president was convicted of orchestrating a armed takeover in the ninth month and given more than over two decades in incarceration, but he remained under home detention pending appeals.

Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the action to imprison the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after fresh information came to light.

This included trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a summons to a demonstration that could facilitate a potential flight.

Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears

In a document approving the detention, Justice Moraes said information from the unit overseeing his home detention suggested the former leader's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his flight.

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

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

The senator wrote on social media on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your country, or observe everything from your phone there on your couch? I urge you to struggle with us."

He said the gathering would be so backers could "pray for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our nation."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of the magistrate's determination was the chance of Bolsonaro's move to foreign missions near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a record of planning to request asylum through a embassy office", a declaration said.

The court filing underscores that the US embassy in the federal district, Brasilia, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.

Global Responses

Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative United States President Trump, prompting him to impose a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports.

He is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will have a detention review on Sunday.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with tracking devices.

They also requested that he be authorized to leave his home for healthcare, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other health problems.

Background on Conviction

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

Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a plan which encompassed plans to kill Lula and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing the former president's case.

The conspiracy was stopped because it couldn't obtain the backing of the army and air force commanders. His successor was took office without issue on January 1st, 2023.

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

The law enforcement took action and around approximately 1,500 persons were detained.

The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been incited by Bolsonaro whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to step in, bring back stability and bring him back to power.

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

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

The former president called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 national vote.