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Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.

The one-time leader was sentenced of plotting a government overthrow in last fall and sentenced more than over two decades in incarceration, but he continued under house arrest pending legal challenges.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after recent developments emerged.

This involved trying to remove his tracking device and a call for a public vigil that could facilitate a possible escape.

Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears

In a document approving the detention, Justice Moraes said information from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his escape.

This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the protest called by his child.

His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a legislator, called for a gathering of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.

The senator wrote on online platforms on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or watch it all from your phone there on your settee? I invite you to struggle with us."

He said the vigil would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."

Diplomatic Refuge Fears

Part of the magistrate's ruling was the chance of Bolsonaro's move to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a background of organizing to request asylum through a embassy office", a statement said.

The court filing highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, Brasilia, is located around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.

Global Responses

The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist United States President Trump, causing him to enact a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.

Bolsonaro is being held in a Federal Police station in the capital and will undergo a custody hearing on the next day.

Recent Legal Requests

It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with tracking devices.

They also petitioned that the former president be permitted to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he needed ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other ailments.

Background on Conviction

The former president was found guilty 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.

High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a scheme which encompassed plans to murder his opponent and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.

The conspiracy was prevented because it couldn't obtain the backing of the armed forces officials. The current president was took office without problem on 1 January 2023.

But a seven days after, on 8 January, numerous his backers stormed and vandalised official structures in the capital, Brazil's capital.

The law enforcement stepped in and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.

The justices found that the protesters had been incited by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, reestablish control and bring him back to power.

At the moment, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".

He was also barred from running for public office until the year 2060 - eight years later after the end of his sentence.

The one-time head of state called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him competing in the next presidential race.