Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.
The former head of state was convicted of plotting a government overthrow in September and sentenced more than 27 years in incarceration, but he continued under house arrest pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a precautionary step after recent developments emerged.
This encompassed attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a invitation to a public vigil that could facilitate a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the detention, the magistrate said intelligence from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the tracking monitor to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the protest called by his son.
His son, Flávio, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his followers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on online platforms on the previous day: Will you battle for your nation, or observe everything from your phone there on your couch? I call on you to fight with us."
He said the gathering would be so followers could offer prayers for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the judge's ruling was the chance of Bolsonaro's transfer to foreign missions near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a record of arranging to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.
The court filing emphasizes that the United States embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is situated around 13km from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist American leader Donald Trump, causing him to impose a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
The former president is being detained in a Federal Police station in the capital and will undergo a detention review on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the Top Court to allow him to complete his entire prison term under home confinement, with tracking devices.
They also asked that he be authorized to depart his residence for medical care, saying he needed ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was found guilty of orchestrating a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the national vote to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a scheme which encompassed plans to assassinate his opponent and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The conspiracy was stopped because it couldn't obtain the support of the military leaders. The current president was sworn in without issue on 1 January 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, numerous his backers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the national capital, Brazil's capital.
The security forces intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The judges found that the demonstrators had been incited by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, restore order and return him to office.
At the time, the legal team called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - 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 participating in the 2026 national vote.
