Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.
The one-time leader was sentenced of plotting a government overthrow in last fall and given more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he was staying under home detention pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after recent developments emerged.
This included attempting to break his ankle monitor and a invitation to a demonstration that could enable a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the custody, the magistrate said data from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the tracking monitor to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the protest called by his child.
His child, his son Flávio, who serves as a legislator, called for a gathering of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on social media on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your country, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your sofa? I invite you to battle with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could offer prayers for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the possibility of Bolsonaro's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of organizing to ask for protection through a consular facility", a statement said.
The legal document highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, the capital city, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from his dwelling.
Global Responses
His judicial problems have generated frustration from fellow conservative nationalist US President Trump, prompting him to impose a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
He is being kept in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will have a detention review on the following day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to permit him to complete his entire prison term under home confinement, with electronic monitoring.
They also asked that the former president be allowed to exit his dwelling for medical treatment, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was determined responsible of leading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices 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 top judicial official who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.
The plot was thwarted because it failed to get the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. His successor was sworn in without problem on January 1st, 2023.
But a following week, on 8 January, many his followers attacked and damaged public facilities in the capital, Brasília.
The security forces stepped in and around 1,500 people were arrested.
The judges found that the protesters had been encouraged by him whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, bring back stability and bring him back to power.
At the period, the legal team called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 national vote.
