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

The former head of state was convicted of planning a military coup in the ninth month and handed more than 27 years in prison, but he continued under house arrest pending court reviews.

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

This included seeking to disable his tracking device and a summons to a demonstration that could facilitate a chance to flee".

Judicial Records Show Escape Risks

In a filing authorising the arrest, the magistrate said intelligence from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's aim to disable the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his flight.

This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his child.

His child, Flávio, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his followers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.

The senator wrote on online platforms on the previous day: Will you battle for your homeland, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your settee? I invite you to battle with us."

He said the demonstration would be so followers could "pray for his health and for the return of democracy in our nation."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the possibility of Bolsonaro's transfer to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a background of arranging to request asylum through a embassy office", a statement said.

The court filing highlights that the US embassy in the federal district, Brasilia, is located around 13km from his dwelling.

Global Responses

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

The former president is being kept in a national police facility in Brasilia and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.

Recent Judicial Appeals

It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.

They also asked that Bolsonaro be authorized to depart his residence for medical care, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.

Context of Sentencing

He was convicted of leading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a scheme which involved plans to murder his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.

The plot was thwarted because it failed to get the backing of the armed forces officials. The current president was sworn in without issue on the first day of 2023.

But a following week, on 8 January, numerous his followers stormed and vandalised official structures in the capital, Brazil's capital.

The police intervened and around 1,500 people were detained.

The magistrates found that the rioters had been incited by him whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to take action, restore order and reinstate his authority.

At the time, his attorneys called the over 27-year sentence extremely harsh.

He was also barred from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.

The one-time head of state called the court case a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him running in the 2026 presidential election.