Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.
The former head of state was convicted of plotting a military coup in the ninth month and sentenced more than 27 years in incarceration, but he remained under house arrest pending court reviews.
High Court Judge the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" came to light.
This included seeking to disable his tracking device and a call for a supporters' gathering that could enable a chance to flee".
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, the judge said intelligence from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's aim to disable the surveillance device to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the protest called by his son.
His child, Flávio, who holds office as a legislator, called for a gathering of his supporters near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
His son wrote on digital networks on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your couch? I urge you to fight with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could offer prayers for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the potential of his transfer to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of arranging to ask for protection through a consular facility", a announcement said.
The legal document highlights that the US embassy in the federal district, Brasilia, is situated around 13km from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist US President President Trump, leading him to impose a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
The former president is being detained in a national police facility in the capital and will experience a custody hearing on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under home confinement, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that he be authorized to depart his residence for medical care, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was found guilty of leading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the national vote to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a scheme which involved plans to assassinate Lula and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.
The scheme was prevented because it didn't receive the support of the armed forces officials. The current president was inaugurated without problem on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, thousands of his followers stormed and vandalised public facilities in the national capital, Brazil's capital.
The police stepped in and around approximately 1,500 persons were taken into custody.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been provoked by him whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to take action, restore order and return him to office.
At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 national vote.
