Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The ex-president was sentenced of orchestrating a armed takeover in September and handed more than a 27-year term in jail, but he remained under home detention pending legal challenges.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after fresh information emerged.
This encompassed attempting to break his tracking device and a call for a demonstration that could enable a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the custody, the judge said intelligence from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the tracking monitor to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His son, Flávio, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his followers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
His son wrote on online platforms on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or see it all from your mobile device there on your couch? I invite you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so followers could "pray for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the possibility of Bolsonaro's move to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a background of organizing to seek refuge through a consular facility", a declaration said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, the capital city, is located around 13km from his dwelling.
International Reactions
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative US President President Trump, prompting him to implement a 50% tariff on goods coming from Brazil.
He is being detained in a Federal Police station in the capital and will have a detention review on the next day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to permit him to complete his entire prison term under home confinement, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that he be allowed to leave his home for healthcare, saying he needed ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Background on Conviction
The former president was determined responsible of orchestrating a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plan which encompassed plans to kill the current president and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The conspiracy was prevented because it failed to get the support of the armed forces officials. The current president was sworn in without issue on January 1st, 2023.
But a following week, on January 8th, many his backers attacked and damaged official structures in the capital, the capital city.
The law enforcement intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The judges found that the protesters had been provoked by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the time, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the next presidential race.
