Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities found he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under domestic detention.
The former head of state was sentenced of orchestrating a armed takeover in the ninth month and sentenced more than 27 years in jail, but he was staying under house arrest pending court reviews.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" were revealed.
This included trying to remove his ankle monitor and a summons to a demonstration that could facilitate a potential flight.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the detention, the judge said intelligence from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the former leader's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.
His child, Flávio, who holds office as a legislator, called for a assembly of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.
The senator wrote on digital networks on Friday: Will you battle for your homeland, or observe everything from your phone there on your settee? I invite you to battle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the judge's determination was the chance of the former president's move to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a background of arranging to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.
The legal document emphasizes that the US embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is located around 13km from the former president's residence.
Worldwide Consequences
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative United States President Donald Trump, causing him to enact a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
He is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will undergo a custody hearing on Sunday.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the High Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also asked that Bolsonaro be permitted to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he required frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other health problems.
Details of Guilty Verdict
He was found guilty of leading a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a plot which included plans to assassinate his opponent and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.
The conspiracy was thwarted because it failed to get the backing of the army and air force commanders. Lula was sworn in without problem on 1 January 2023.
But a week later, on 8 January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised public facilities in the federal district, Brazil's capital.
The police intervened and around 1,500 people were arrested.
The judges found that the demonstrators had been provoked by him whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.
At the moment, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.
He was also banned from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 presidential election.
