Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.
The former head of state was convicted of plotting a military coup in the ninth month and sentenced more than a 27-year term in jail, but he remained under confinement pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a preventative measure after fresh information were revealed.
This included attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the detention, Justice Moraes said information from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the former leader's plan to remove the tracking monitor to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His child, his son Flávio, who works as a legislator, called for a gathering of his supporters near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.
His son wrote on social media on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your country, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I call on you to battle with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could "pray for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the judge's determination was the possibility of his "relocation to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of planning to seek refuge through a embassy office", a declaration said.
The court filing underscores that the US embassy in the capital, the capital city, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from his dwelling.
Worldwide Consequences
His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative US President Donald Trump, prompting him to enact a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
Bolsonaro is being held in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will have a custody hearing 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 serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with electronic monitoring.
They also asked that Bolsonaro be allowed to leave his home for healthcare, saying he needed frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other ailments.
Context of Sentencing
The former president was determined responsible of leading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the national vote to his ideological adversary, Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a scheme which included plans to kill Lula and his running partner, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.
The conspiracy was stopped because it didn't receive the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. The current president was inaugurated without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, many his backers attacked and damaged government buildings in the federal district, the capital city.
The police intervened and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from running for public office until the year 2060 - eight years after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the 2026 presidential election.
