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 military coup in the ninth month and given more than 27 years in incarceration, but he remained under house arrest pending appeals.
High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after "new facts" emerged.
This encompassed seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a potential flight.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns
In a filing authorising the custody, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his son.
His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a legislator, called for a gathering of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I urge you to fight with us."
He said the gathering would be so backers could offer prayers for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's decision was the chance of the former president's transfer to embassies near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of arranging to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.
The legal document emphasizes that the US embassy in the national capital, the capital city, is situated around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow conservative nationalist United States President Donald Trump, causing him to enact a 50% tariff on goods coming from Brazil.
Bolsonaro is being kept in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will have a imprisonment assessment on the following day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with tracking devices.
They also asked that Bolsonaro be authorized to depart his residence for medical care, saying he needed ongoing care for lung conditions and other illnesses.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was found guilty of orchestrating a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the presidential race to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plan which encompassed plans to kill the current president and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The scheme was stopped because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the military leaders. The current president was took office without issue on January 1st, 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, many Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged government buildings in the federal district, Brazil's capital.
The police intervened and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.
The judges found that the demonstrators had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the period, the legal team called the over 27-year sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from seeking elected position until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The ex-leader called the court case a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him running in the next presidential race.
