Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities determined he posed a definite escape threat while under home confinement.
The former head of state was sentenced of planning a government overthrow in last fall and given more than a 27-year term in prison, but he remained under house arrest pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a precautionary step after fresh information were revealed.
This included seeking to disable his electronic bracelet and a invitation to a demonstration that could facilitate a chance to flee".
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, the magistrate said information from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the surveillance device to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the confusion caused by the gathering called by his son.
His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.
His son wrote on digital networks on Friday: Will you battle for your country, or see it all from your phone there on your sofa? I urge you to fight with us."
He said the vigil would be so backers could offer prayers for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the judge's decision was the possibility of Bolsonaro's move to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of organizing to ask for protection through a consular facility", a statement said.
The legal document underscores that the United States embassy in the national capital, Brasilia, is positioned around 8 miles from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative American leader Trump, causing him to enact a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
Bolsonaro is being held in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will experience a imprisonment assessment on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to permit him to complete his entire prison term under home confinement, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that the former president be permitted to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he needed regular treatment for lung conditions and other illnesses.
Background on Conviction
The former president was convicted of orchestrating a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a plan which encompassed plans to murder the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been overseeing the former president's case.
The scheme was prevented because it failed to get the backing of the military leaders. Lula was inaugurated without incident on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on January 8th, numerous his backers attacked and damaged government buildings in the capital, Brazil's capital.
The security forces stepped in and around approximately 1,500 persons were detained.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been provoked by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to step in, bring back stability and bring him back to power.
At the period, his attorneys called the over 27-year sentence extremely harsh.
He was also barred from running for public office until the year 2060 - eight years after the end of his sentence.
The ex-leader called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the next presidential race.
