Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities found he posed a definite escape threat while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was sentenced of plotting a military coup in September and handed more than over two decades in prison, but he continued under confinement pending legal challenges.
High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a safety action after "new facts" came to light.
This involved trying to remove his tracking device and a call for a public vigil that could facilitate a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the custody, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's aim to disable the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a senator, called for a gathering of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on the previous day: Will you battle for your nation, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your settee? I urge you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could offer prayers for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our country."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the potential of his transfer to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a record of organizing to ask for protection through a consular facility", a declaration said.
The court filing highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, Brazil's capital, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
International Reactions
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative American leader Trump, leading him to impose a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods.
Bolsonaro is being kept in a Federal Police station in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on the following day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the High Court to permit him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also requested that he be authorized to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other ailments.
Background on Conviction
He was determined responsible of heading a conspiracy aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plot which included plans to kill his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing the former president's case.
The plot was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. Lula was took office without problem on the first day of 2023.
But a seven days after, on 8 January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged official structures in the national capital, the capital city.
The security forces intervened and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.
The judges found that the rioters had been encouraged by him whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the period, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also prohibited from running for public office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the next presidential race.
