Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities found he posed a definite escape threat while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was found guilty of orchestrating a government overthrow in September and handed more than 27 years in incarceration, but he continued under house arrest pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a precautionary step after recent developments emerged.
This involved trying to remove his ankle monitor and a invitation to a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a chance to flee".
Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, the judge said information from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's aim to disable the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his escape.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the protest called by his offspring.
His son, his son Flávio, who serves as a legislator, called for a assembly of his backers near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.
The senator wrote on social media on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I call on you to battle with us."
He said the gathering would be so backers could "pray for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our land."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the judge's ruling was the possibility of Bolsonaro's "relocation to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a history of planning to request asylum through a consular facility", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the United States embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is positioned around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist US President Trump, prompting him to enact a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
He is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will undergo a detention review on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that the former president be permitted to leave his home for medical care, saying he demanded ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was found guilty of leading a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the presidential race to his left-wing rival, Lula.
High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a plot which involved plans to assassinate the current president and his running partner, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was thwarted because it didn't receive the backing of the army and air force commanders. Lula was sworn in without incident on the first day of 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, numerous his backers stormed and vandalised official structures in the capital, the capital city.
The police took action and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.
The judges found that the rioters had been provoked by him whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to take action, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also barred from running for public office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The ex-leader called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him competing in the 2026 presidential election.
