Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.
The one-time leader was convicted of plotting a government overthrow in last fall and handed more than over two decades in prison, but he was staying under home detention pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after fresh information came to light.
This involved seeking to disable his electronic bracelet and a call for a public vigil that could enable a potential flight.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns
In a filing authorising the custody, the judge said intelligence from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's aim to disable the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.
His son, Flávio, who works as a legislator, called for a meeting of his followers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on Friday: Will you battle for your homeland, or see it all from your phone there on your couch? I call on you to fight with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could "pray for his health and for the return of democracy in our country."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the potential of the former president's move to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of organizing to request asylum through a consular facility", a declaration said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around 13km from the former president's residence.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative US President President Trump, prompting him to impose a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
He is being detained in a Federal Police station in the capital and will have a imprisonment assessment on the following day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to permit him to complete his entire prison term under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also petitioned that he be authorized to leave his home for healthcare, saying he needed frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other health problems.
Background on Conviction
Bolsonaro was found guilty of heading a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the national vote to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Top judicial officials said that he knew of a plot which included plans to murder the current president and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The conspiracy was thwarted because it failed to get the support of the military leaders. The current president was sworn in without problem on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on 8 January, many Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised official structures in the capital, the capital city.
The police intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The justices found that the demonstrators had been incited by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the moment, his attorneys called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the trial a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the 2026 national vote.
