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

The ex-president was sentenced of planning a government overthrow in last fall and sentenced more than 27 years in jail, but he continued under house arrest pending court reviews.

Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" emerged.

This involved attempting to break his ankle monitor and a call for a supporters' gathering that could enable a potential flight.

Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns

In a filing authorising the custody, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's "intention to break the surveillance device to ensure success in his flight.

This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the protest called by his offspring.

His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a senator, called for a assembly of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or watch it all from your phone there on your sofa? I invite you to struggle with us."

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

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the judge's determination was the chance of Bolsonaro's move to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a record of organizing to seek refuge through a embassy office", a announcement said.

The legal document underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, the capital city, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.

International Reactions

Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist US President Donald Trump, causing him to implement a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods.

Bolsonaro is being detained in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on the following day.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on the previous day that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with tracking devices.

They also asked that Bolsonaro be allowed to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he required regular treatment for lung conditions and other health problems.

Details of Guilty Verdict

He was found guilty of heading a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, President Lula.

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

The plot was stopped because it didn't receive the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. Lula was sworn in without problem on January 1st, 2023.

But a following week, on the eighth of January, many Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised public facilities in the capital, Brazil's capital.

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

The justices found that the demonstrators had been provoked by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, restore order and return him to office.

At the time, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.

He was also barred from running for public office until the year 2060 - 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 intended to stop him participating in the 2026 presidential election.