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Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a definite escape threat while under home confinement.

The ex-president was found guilty of orchestrating a military coup in last fall and handed more than 27 years in jail, but he continued under home detention pending court reviews.

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

This included trying to remove his tracking device and a invitation to a public vigil that could facilitate a possible escape.

Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns

In a filing authorising the custody, Justice Moraes said data from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's "intention to break the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his escape.

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

His child, his son Flávio, who works as a senator, called for a gathering of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.

The senator wrote on digital networks on the previous day: Will you battle for your country, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your couch? I invite you to fight with us."

He said the gathering would be so followers could "pray for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our country."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of the judge's determination was the possibility of the former president's move to embassies near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a history of arranging to request asylum through a consular facility", a announcement said.

The court filing underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, Brazil's capital, is located around 8 miles from his dwelling.

International Reactions

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

The former president is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will have a detention review on the next day.

Recent Judicial Appeals

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

They also requested that Bolsonaro be allowed to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he required regular treatment for lung conditions and other ailments.

Details of Guilty Verdict

He was convicted of orchestrating a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Lula.

Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a scheme which included plans to murder Lula and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.

The plot was prevented because it failed to get the backing of the military leaders. The current president was took office without issue on January 1st, 2023.

But a following week, on 8 January, many Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed public facilities in the capital, Brasília.

The law enforcement took action and around 1,500 people were arrested.

The judges found that the protesters had been provoked by him whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, bring back stability and bring him back to power.

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

He was also barred from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the conclusion of his imprisonment.

The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the 2026 national vote.