Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.
The former head of state was convicted of planning a government overthrow in September and handed more than 27 years in prison, but he continued under house arrest pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after fresh information came to light.
This included seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a call for a public vigil that could "allow for a chance to flee".
Court Filing Details Flight Fears
In a paperwork permitting the custody, the magistrate said intelligence from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's "intention to break the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.
His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his followers near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.
The senator wrote on online platforms on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your country, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your sofa? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so backers could offer prayers for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the judge's decision was the possibility of the former president's "relocation to embassies near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a history of organizing to ask for protection through a embassy office", a declaration said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the US embassy in the capital, Brazil's capital, is located around 8 miles from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist US President Trump, prompting him to enact a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
He is being held in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will undergo a detention review on Sunday.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that the former president be permitted to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
He was found guilty of orchestrating a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plot which encompassed plans to kill his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing the former president's case.
The conspiracy was thwarted because it didn't receive the backing of the army and air force commanders. The current president was took office without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a following week, on 8 January, numerous his backers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the federal district, Brasília.
The police intervened and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.
He was also barred from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The former president called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 national vote.
