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

The one-time leader was sentenced of plotting a military coup in the ninth month and given more than a 27-year term in prison, but he remained under confinement pending legal challenges.

Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" emerged.

This involved trying to remove his tracking device and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a potential flight.

Judicial Records Show Flight Fears

In a document approving the detention, the magistrate said data from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the tracking monitor to ensure success in his escape.

This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the protest called by his son.

His son, his son Flávio, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on online platforms on Friday: Will you battle for your homeland, or see it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I call on you to struggle with us."

He said the vigil would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of the magistrate's ruling was the possibility of Bolsonaro's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a history of arranging to seek refuge through a consular facility", a statement said.

The court filing highlights that the US embassy in the capital, the capital city, is positioned around 13km from his dwelling.

Global Responses

Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist US President Donald Trump, leading him to implement a 50% tariff on imports of Brazilian goods.

He is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will experience a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the High Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.

They also asked that the former president be allowed to exit his dwelling for medical treatment, saying he needed ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.

Context of Sentencing

Bolsonaro was found guilty of leading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the national vote to his political opponent, President Lula.

Top judicial officials said that he was aware of a plan which involved plans to assassinate his opponent and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.

The scheme was stopped because it failed to get the backing of the military leaders. The current president was sworn in without incident on the first day of 2023.

But a week later, on January 8th, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed government buildings in the national capital, the capital city.

The police stepped in and around 1,500 people were arrested.

The justices found that the rioters had been incited by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to take action, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.

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

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

The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the next presidential race.