Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was sentenced of plotting a military coup in September and given more than 27 years in prison, but he continued under house arrest pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the move to detain the elderly politician was a preventative measure after recent developments were revealed.
This involved trying to remove his ankle monitor and a call for a public vigil that could facilitate a possible escape.
Court Filing Details Flight Fears
In a paperwork permitting the detention, the magistrate said intelligence from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his son.
His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a senator, called for a assembly of his backers near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.
The senator wrote on digital networks on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or watch it all from your phone there on your couch? I invite you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so followers could "pray for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the potential of Bolsonaro's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a history of arranging to ask for protection through a consular facility", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the US embassy in the federal district, Brazil's capital, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from his dwelling.
Worldwide Consequences
His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow right-wing populist United States President Donald Trump, leading him to enact a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
The former president is being kept in a Federal Police station in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a custody hearing on the next day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with digital surveillance.
They also petitioned that Bolsonaro be authorized to leave his home for healthcare, saying he needed frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.
Context of Sentencing
He was found guilty of heading a conspiracy aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the national vote to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a scheme which involved plans to kill Lula and his running partner, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was thwarted because it didn't receive the endorsement of the military leaders. The current president was inaugurated without issue on January 1st, 2023.
But a following week, on 8 January, many Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised public facilities in the national capital, Brazil's capital.
The police intervened and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.
The judges found that the protesters had been provoked by him whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.
At the period, the legal team called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the end of his sentence.
The ex-leader called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the next presidential race.
