Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was convicted of plotting a government overthrow in last fall and handed more than a 27-year term in jail, but he remained under confinement pending appeals.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after recent developments came to light.
This included attempting to break his tracking device and a summons to a public vigil that could facilitate a chance to flee".
Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, the magistrate said information from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the tracking monitor to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his child.
His son, his son Flávio, who serves as a senator, called for a meeting of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on social media on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your country, or observe everything from your phone there on your couch? I call on you to battle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the judge's decision was the potential of his move to foreign missions near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of planning to ask for protection through a consular facility", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork highlights that the US embassy in the capital, Brazil's capital, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from his dwelling.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist US President Trump, prompting him to implement a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.
Bolsonaro is being held in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will experience a detention review on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that he be permitted to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other ailments.
Background on Conviction
He was determined responsible of heading a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Lula.
High Court judges said that he was aware of a scheme which encompassed plans to murder his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing the former president's case.
The scheme was prevented because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the military leaders. Lula was sworn in without issue on January 1st, 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, numerous his followers invaded and destroyed public facilities in the national capital, the capital city.
The police took action and around approximately 1,500 persons were taken into custody.
The judges found that the protesters had been incited by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.
At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also barred from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - eight years after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the court case a targeted investigation" and said it was intended to stop him competing in the 2026 national vote.
