The former Brazilian president detained after being deemed a flight risk

Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.

The ex-president was convicted of plotting a government overthrow in the ninth month and handed more than 27 years in jail, but he remained under house arrest pending legal challenges.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after recent developments were revealed.

This involved trying to remove his tracking device and a call for a demonstration that could facilitate a potential flight.

Court Filing Details Flight Fears

In a paperwork permitting the detention, the judge said data from the unit overseeing his home detention suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the surveillance device to ensure success in his flight.

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

His son, Flávio, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on online platforms on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or see it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I urge you to struggle with us."

He said the vigil would be so backers could offer prayers for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our country."

Embassy Asylum Concerns

Part of the judge's decision was the potential of his transfer to embassies near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a history of organizing to request asylum through a consular facility", a announcement said.

The legal document emphasizes that the US embassy in the national capital, the capital city, is located around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.

Worldwide Consequences

His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist American leader Trump, leading him to enact a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.

He is being kept in a national police facility in Brasilia and will experience a detention review on the following day.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the Top Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with tracking devices.

They also petitioned that the former president be permitted to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he required regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other health problems.

Background on Conviction

He was determined responsible of leading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the presidential race to his ideological adversary, President Lula.

Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plan which included plans to kill the current president and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been managing the former president's case.

The plot was prevented because it failed to get the support of the military leaders. Lula was inaugurated without issue on the first day of 2023.

But a week later, on the eighth of January, numerous his followers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the national capital, the capital city.

The security forces stepped in and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.

The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by him whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, bring back stability and bring him back to power.

At the time, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.

He was also banned from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years after the completion of his term.

The ex-leader called the court case a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him running in the 2026 national vote.