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The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under domestic detention.

The ex-president was found guilty of orchestrating a armed takeover in the ninth month and given more than a 27-year term in jail, but he was staying under confinement pending appeals.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the action to imprison the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after recent developments were revealed.

This included attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a call for a public vigil that could "allow for a potential flight.

Court Filing Details Escape Risks

In a filing authorising the detention, the judge said intelligence from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his escape.

This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the protest called by his child.

His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his backers near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.

His son wrote on social media on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your sofa? I call on you to struggle with us."

He said the vigil would be so followers could "pray for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of the magistrate's decision was the potential of Bolsonaro's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a background of planning to ask for protection through a embassy office", a statement said.

The legal document emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, Brasilia, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from his dwelling.

Worldwide Consequences

His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative American leader Donald Trump, prompting him to enact a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.

Bolsonaro is being detained in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will experience a detention review on the following day.

Recent Judicial Appeals

It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with digital surveillance.

They also asked that the former president be authorized to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he required ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other ailments.

Context of Sentencing

The former president was found guilty of orchestrating a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the presidential race to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a plot which included plans to murder his opponent and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been overseeing the former president's case.

The plot was prevented because it couldn't obtain the support of the armed forces officials. Lula was sworn in without incident on 1 January 2023.

But a seven days after, on 8 January, numerous his followers attacked and damaged government buildings in the capital, the capital city.

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

The justices found that the rioters had been incited by him whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to take action, restore order and return him to office.

At the period, the legal team called the over 27-year sentence extremely harsh.

He was also barred from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - eight years after the end of his sentence.

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