Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.
The former head of state was sentenced of planning a government overthrow in September and given more than 27 years in prison, but he remained under house arrest pending legal challenges.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after fresh information came to light.
This encompassed seeking to disable his electronic bracelet and a invitation to a supporters' gathering that could enable a chance to flee".
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a document approving the arrest, the magistrate said data from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his child.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a legislator, called for a assembly of his supporters near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your country, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I invite you to fight with us."
He said the demonstration would be so backers could offer prayers for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the chance of Bolsonaro's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a history of organizing to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.
The court filing underscores that the United States embassy in the capital, the capital city, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative American leader President Trump, leading him to impose a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
The former president is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will have a detention review on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also requested that the former president be allowed to exit his dwelling for medical treatment, saying he required ongoing care for lung conditions and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was found guilty of leading a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the 2022 election to his political opponent, President Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plot which involved plans to assassinate Lula and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.
The plot was stopped because it didn't receive the support of the armed forces officials. The current president was inaugurated without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised public facilities in the federal district, the capital city.
The law enforcement stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been provoked by him whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the moment, the legal team called the over 27-year sentence extremely harsh.
He was also banned from campaigning for office until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him competing in the 2026 national vote.
