Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.
The one-time leader was found guilty of planning a armed takeover in last fall and sentenced more than a 27-year term in prison, but he was staying under confinement pending appeals.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after fresh information were revealed.
This included seeking to disable his tracking device and a invitation to a supporters' gathering that could enable a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Flight Fears
In a paperwork permitting the detention, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's aim to disable the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his flight.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a senator, called for a assembly of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.
His son wrote on social media on Friday: Will you battle for your country, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I urge you to fight with us."
He said the demonstration would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's determination was the chance of his transfer to embassies near the home, considering that the probes revealed a background of organizing to request asylum through a consular facility", a statement said.
The legal document emphasizes that the US embassy in the capital, the capital city, is situated around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
Worldwide Consequences
Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative US President Donald Trump, leading him to enact a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
He is being held in a national police facility in the capital and will have a detention review on the following day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the Supreme Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with digital surveillance.
They also requested that he be allowed to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he required ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was found guilty of heading a conspiracy aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a scheme which encompassed plans to kill his opponent and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing his judicial proceedings.
The plot was thwarted because it failed to get the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. His successor was took office without issue on 1 January 2023.
But a following week, on 8 January, thousands of his followers attacked and damaged government buildings in the national capital, Brasília.
The law enforcement took action and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.
The magistrates found that the protesters had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to take action, restore order and return him to office.
At the moment, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.
He was also banned from seeking elected position 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 competing in the 2026 presidential election.
