Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.
The ex-president was convicted of plotting a government overthrow in September and given more than over two decades in jail, but he was staying under home detention pending appeals.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a preventative measure after recent developments emerged.
This encompassed seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a summons to a demonstration that could enable a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a document approving the detention, the judge said data from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his escape.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the confusion caused by the gathering called by his child.
His offspring, Flávio, who works as a legislator, called for a gathering of his supporters near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on social media on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or see it all from your phone there on your settee? I call on you to fight with us."
He said the gathering would be so followers could offer prayers for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the judge's ruling was the possibility of Bolsonaro's transfer to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a record of arranging to seek refuge through a embassy office", a statement said.
The court filing highlights that the US embassy in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around 8 miles from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist United States President President Trump, leading him to enact a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
He is being detained in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will have a detention review on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the Top Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also asked that the former president be permitted to leave his home for medical care, saying he needed regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Context of Sentencing
The former president was found guilty of orchestrating a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the national vote to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a plot which involved plans to kill Lula and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The scheme was stopped because it couldn't obtain the support of the armed forces officials. Lula was inaugurated without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a week later, on 8 January, thousands of his backers attacked and damaged public facilities in the capital, Brasília.
The security forces intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.
The justices found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, restore order and return him to office.
At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence extremely harsh.
He was also barred from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the completion of his term.
The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the next presidential race.
