🔗 Share this article Bolsonaro detained after being considered a flight risk Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a definite escape threat while under home confinement. The former head of state was convicted of planning a armed takeover in last fall and sentenced more than 27 years in incarceration, but he was staying under home detention pending legal challenges. Brazilian Supreme Court Justice the presiding justice said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" were revealed. This included attempting to break his tracking device and a call for a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a potential flight. Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns In a document approving the custody, the judge said intelligence from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the tracking monitor to ensure success in his escape. This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his offspring. His son, his son Flávio, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend. Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on last Friday: 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 vigil would be so backers could "pray for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our country." Embassy Asylum Concerns Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the chance of his move to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of organizing to seek refuge through a consular facility", a statement said. The judicial paperwork highlights that the United States embassy in the capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around 13km from the former president's residence. Global Responses His judicial problems have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist US President President Trump, prompting him to impose a 50% tariff on goods coming from Brazil. He is being detained in a national police facility in Brasilia and will undergo a detention review on Sunday. Latest Court Petitions It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to allow him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with digital surveillance. They also requested that he be permitted to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he needed regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other illnesses. Background on Conviction Bolsonaro was convicted of heading a conspiracy aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. High Court judges said that he knew of a plan which encompassed plans to murder the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial. The scheme was thwarted because it didn't receive the support of the armed forces officials. Lula was sworn in without issue on the first day of 2023. But a following week, on the eighth of January, numerous his followers stormed and vandalised official structures in the federal district, Brasília. The law enforcement intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained. The justices found that the protesters had been encouraged by him whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, bring back stability and return him to office. At the period, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe". He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment. The ex-leader called the trial a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 presidential election.