Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a definite escape threat while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was convicted of planning a government overthrow in September and handed more than 27 years in prison, but he remained under house arrest pending court reviews.
High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after "new facts" came to light.
This included seeking to disable his tracking device and a invitation to a demonstration that could facilitate a potential flight.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the custody, Justice Moraes said information from the unit overseeing his home detention suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his son.
His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a senator, called for a meeting of his supporters near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your couch? I invite you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could "pray for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the judge's decision was the chance of Bolsonaro's move to embassies near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a record of organizing to ask for protection through a consular facility", a declaration said.
The legal document underscores that the United States embassy in the capital, Brasilia, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist US President Donald Trump, prompting him to implement a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
The former president is being detained in a national police facility in the capital and will experience a detention review on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.
They also requested that Bolsonaro be authorized to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he needed ongoing care for lung conditions and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
The former president was convicted of heading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Lula.
High Court judges said that he was aware of a plan which involved plans to murder the current president and his running partner, Alckmin, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing the former president's case.
The conspiracy was stopped because it didn't receive the backing of the military leaders. The current president was inaugurated without problem on 1 January 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, thousands of his followers attacked and damaged official structures in the federal district, the capital city.
The security forces stepped in and around 1,500 people were arrested.
The justices found that the protesters had been incited by him whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, bring back stability and return him to office.
At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also prohibited from running for public office until twenty-sixty - eight years after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 presidential election.
