Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under domestic detention.
The ex-president was found guilty of planning a military coup in the ninth month and sentenced more than a 27-year term in prison, but he continued under home detention pending appeals.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after recent developments came to light.
This included seeking to disable his tracking device and a invitation to a public vigil that could enable a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, the magistrate said information from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the gathering called by his child.
His son, his son Flávio, who serves as a legislator, called for a meeting of his backers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
His son wrote on digital networks on Friday: Will you battle for your country, or observe everything from your phone there on your sofa? I call on you to battle with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the chance of Bolsonaro's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a history of arranging to ask for protection through a embassy office", a announcement said.
The court filing emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, the capital city, is positioned around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist American leader Donald Trump, prompting him to implement a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
Bolsonaro is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will have a detention review on Sunday.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also petitioned that the former president be allowed to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he demanded regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was found guilty of leading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the national vote to his political opponent, President Lula.
High Court judges said that he was aware of a plot which encompassed plans to murder Lula and his running partner, Alckmin, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.
The plot was prevented because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. The current president was inaugurated without problem on 1 January 2023.
But a seven days after, on 8 January, many his followers attacked and damaged official structures in the capital, Brazil's capital.
The security forces stepped in and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.
The justices found that the protesters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to step in, restore order and bring him back to power.
At the time, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also barred from running for public office until 2060 - eight years later after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the court case a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him competing in the next presidential race.