Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.
The one-time leader was convicted of planning a military coup in the ninth month and handed more than over two decades in jail, but he remained under home detention pending court reviews.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a safety action after fresh information emerged.
This involved seeking to disable his tracking device and a call for a public vigil that could facilitate a chance to flee".
Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks
In a paperwork permitting the custody, the magistrate said data from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his getaway".
This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the protest called by his child.
His son, Flávio, who works as a senator, called for a gathering of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.
His son wrote on digital networks on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or see it all from your mobile device there on your couch? I call on you to battle with us."
He said the gathering would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the judge's determination was the chance of the former president's move to embassies near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of planning to request asylum through a embassy office", a announcement said.
The legal document underscores that the US embassy in the capital, Brasilia, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative US President President Trump, causing him to implement a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
Bolsonaro is being held in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will have 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 allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also asked that Bolsonaro be allowed to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he required ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
The former president was found guilty of heading a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the national vote to his political opponent, President Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a scheme which included plans to assassinate Lula and his running partner, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The plot was prevented because it couldn't obtain the backing of the army and air force commanders. The current president was inaugurated without issue on January 1st, 2023.
But a seven days after, on January 8th, thousands of his backers stormed and vandalised official structures in the national capital, Brasília.
The security forces took action and around 1,500 people were detained.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been encouraged by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to step in, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the time, the legal team called the 27 years and three months sentence extremely harsh.
He was also barred from seeking elected position until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The former president called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the next presidential race.
