Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under home confinement.
The one-time leader was convicted of plotting a government overthrow in September and sentenced more than 27 years in incarceration, but he remained under home detention pending court reviews.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a preventative measure after recent developments emerged.
This included trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a call for a demonstration that could "allow for a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.
His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a legislator, called for a meeting of his backers near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on online platforms on Friday: Will you battle for your country, or see it all from your smartphone there on your sofa? I urge you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could "pray for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the potential of Bolsonaro's transfer to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a history of organizing to seek refuge through a embassy office", a statement said.
The legal document underscores that the US embassy in the capital, Brasilia, is positioned around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow right-wing populist United States President President Trump, leading him to impose a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
He is being detained in a national police facility in the capital and will experience a imprisonment assessment on the following day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that he be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he required ongoing care for lung conditions and other ailments.
Background on Conviction
He was found guilty of orchestrating a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the presidential race to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plot which involved plans to kill Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The plot was stopped because it failed to get the endorsement of the military leaders. Lula was took office without issue on January 1st, 2023.
But a following week, on 8 January, numerous his followers invaded and destroyed public facilities in the capital, Brasília.
The police took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.
The magistrates found that the protesters had been incited by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to take action, restore order and reinstate his authority.
At the time, his attorneys called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also barred from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The former president called the court case a targeted investigation" and said it was intended to stop him participating in the next presidential race.
