Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.
The ex-president was convicted of orchestrating a armed takeover in last fall and handed more than over two decades in prison, but he continued under home detention pending court reviews.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after fresh information emerged.
This encompassed seeking to disable his tracking device and a summons to a demonstration that could facilitate a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the arrest, Justice Moraes said information from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's plan to remove the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his flight.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the confusion caused by the gathering called by his child.
His son, Flávio, who works as a senator, called for a gathering of his supporters near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.
His son wrote on social media on the previous day: Will you battle for your nation, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your sofa? I invite you to battle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could "pray for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our country."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's determination was the potential of Bolsonaro's transfer to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of planning to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist United States President Trump, leading him to enact a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
The former president is being held in a national police facility in Brasilia and will undergo a custody hearing on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the Top Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.
They also petitioned that the former president be permitted to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he required frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was found guilty of orchestrating a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the national vote to his ideological adversary, Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a scheme which involved plans to murder his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The scheme was prevented because it failed to get the backing of the armed forces officials. His successor was sworn in without problem on 1 January 2023.
But a week later, on 8 January, many his backers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the federal district, the capital city.
The law enforcement stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.
The judges found that the rioters had been provoked by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the moment, the legal team called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also barred from campaigning for office until the year 2060 - 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 intended to stop him competing in the 2026 presidential election.
