Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was found guilty of orchestrating a armed takeover in last fall and handed more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he was staying under confinement pending court reviews.
High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" emerged.
This included seeking to disable his tracking device and a summons to a public vigil that could facilitate a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the custody, the judge said information from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the surveillance device to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the protest called by his offspring.
His child, his son Flávio, who works as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on social media on last Friday: Will you battle for your country, or watch it all from your phone there on your settee? I urge you to struggle with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our country."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's determination was the possibility of the former president's transfer to foreign missions near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a background of planning to request asylum through a embassy office", a announcement said.
The legal document emphasizes that the United States embassy in the federal district, Brasilia, is situated around 8 miles from his dwelling.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist American leader Trump, leading him to impose a 50% tariff on imports of Brazilian goods.
Bolsonaro is being held in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will have 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 authorize him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.
They also petitioned that the former president be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical treatment, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was found guilty of heading a conspiracy aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the presidential race to his left-wing rival, President Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plot which encompassed plans to murder his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.
The conspiracy was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the support of the armed forces officials. His successor was inaugurated without problem on the first day of 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged government buildings in the federal district, Brasília.
The security forces stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The judges found that the demonstrators had been provoked by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, restore order and return him to office.
At the time, the legal team called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from running for public office until twenty-sixty - eight years after the end of his sentence.
The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 presidential election.
