Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.
The ex-president was sentenced of orchestrating a government overthrow in last fall and given more than over two decades in prison, but he remained under home detention pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a precautionary step after recent developments were revealed.
This encompassed seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a invitation to a supporters' gathering that could enable a possible escape.
Court Filing Details Escape Concerns
In a filing authorising the detention, the judge said intelligence from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the tracking monitor to ensure success in his flight.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his son.
His offspring, his son Flávio, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.
His son wrote on social media on the previous day: Will you battle for your homeland, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your settee? I urge you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his health and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's determination was the chance of Bolsonaro's move to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of arranging to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the US embassy in the federal district, Brasilia, is located around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative American leader President Trump, prompting him to enact a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
Bolsonaro is being held in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with tracking devices.
They also requested that Bolsonaro be authorized to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he demanded ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was convicted of heading a conspiracy aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the national vote to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Top judicial officials said that he was aware of a plan which included plans to kill the current president and his running partner, Alckmin, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been managing the former president's case.
The plot was prevented because it failed to get the backing of the armed forces officials. The current president was inaugurated without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, numerous his backers attacked and damaged government buildings in the capital, Brasília.
The security forces stepped in and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.
The justices found that the rioters had been provoked by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from campaigning for office until the year 2060 - eight years later after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the court case a targeted investigation" and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the 2026 national vote.
