Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was convicted of orchestrating a armed takeover in last fall and given more than 27 years in incarceration, but he continued under home detention pending court reviews.
Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after "new facts" emerged.
This encompassed trying to remove his tracking device and a call for a demonstration that could facilitate a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the detention, Justice Moraes said information from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His offspring, Flávio, who works 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 the previous day: Will you battle for your country, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your settee? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the vigil would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the potential of Bolsonaro's transfer to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of organizing to seek refuge through a embassy office", a statement said.
The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the US embassy in the capital, Brasilia, is located around 8 miles from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow right-wing populist US President Trump, prompting him to implement a 50% tariff on imports of Brazilian goods.
Bolsonaro is being held in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will have a custody hearing on the next day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to allow him to complete his entire prison term under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also asked that Bolsonaro be permitted to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he needed frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other health problems.
Background on Conviction
Bolsonaro was convicted of leading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the national vote to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he was aware of a plot which involved plans to murder the current president and his running partner, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was prevented because it couldn't obtain the backing of the armed forces officials. The current president was sworn in without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a following week, on January 8th, thousands of his backers attacked and damaged public facilities in the capital, the capital city.
The police stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The judges found that the demonstrators had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, bring back stability 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 after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the next presidential race.
