Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The ex-president was sentenced of planning a government overthrow in last fall and handed more than a 27-year term in jail, but he continued under confinement pending legal challenges.
High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a safety action after fresh information were revealed.
This encompassed trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a call for a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a possible escape.
Court Filing Details Escape Concerns
In a filing authorising the detention, the magistrate said information from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's "intention to break the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the protest called by his offspring.
His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a legislator, called for a gathering of his followers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on social media on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your couch? I invite you to battle with us."
He said the vigil would be so followers could offer prayers for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the possibility of the former president's "relocation to embassies near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a record of arranging to request asylum through a embassy office", a declaration said.
The legal document underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, Brasilia, is positioned around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative US President President Trump, causing him to implement a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.
The former president is being held in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will have a detention review on the following day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that he be permitted to leave his home for medical care, saying he demanded regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was convicted of orchestrating a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his political opponent, President Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a scheme which encompassed plans to murder his opponent and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing the former president's case.
The conspiracy was stopped because it didn't receive the backing of the military leaders. The current president was took office without incident on 1 January 2023.
But a following week, on January 8th, numerous his followers stormed and vandalised official structures in the capital, Brasília.
The police took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.
The judges found that the rioters had been encouraged by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, restore order and bring him back to power.
At the time, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from campaigning for office until 2060 - eight years later after the completion of his term.
The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him participating in the next presidential race.
