Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under domestic detention.
The ex-president was convicted of planning a armed takeover in the ninth month and sentenced more than over two decades in prison, but he was staying under confinement pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a preventative measure after recent developments were revealed.
This encompassed seeking to disable his tracking device and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the custody, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's aim to disable the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the protest called by his son.
His son, his son Flávio, who holds office as a senator, called for a meeting of his followers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.
His son wrote on online platforms on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your sofa? I invite you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so followers could offer prayers for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our country."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the potential of the former president's transfer to embassies near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of planning to request asylum through a consular facility", a declaration said.
The legal document underscores that the US embassy in the capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around 8 miles from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative US President Donald Trump, prompting him to enact a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
The former president is being kept in a Federal Police station in the capital and will have a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also asked that the former president be permitted to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he required regular treatment for lung conditions and other illnesses.
Background on Conviction
Bolsonaro was convicted of orchestrating a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a scheme which involved plans to kill the current president and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The plot was prevented because it failed to get the endorsement of the military leaders. The current president was sworn in without issue on 1 January 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged official structures in the federal district, Brazil's capital.
The law enforcement took action and around approximately 1,500 persons were detained.
The judges found that the rioters had been encouraged by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to take action, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.
At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - eight years later after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The former president called the trial a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him competing in the 2026 presidential election.
