Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.
The former head of state was found guilty of orchestrating a armed takeover in the ninth month and given more than over two decades in jail, but he continued under confinement pending legal challenges.
High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a safety action after recent developments came to light.
This included attempting to break his tracking device and a call for a public vigil that could enable a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a document approving the custody, the magistrate said data from the unit overseeing his home detention suggested the former leader's plan to remove the tracking monitor to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the protest called by his son.
His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.
The senator wrote on social media on last Friday: Will you battle for your country, or see it all from your phone there on your sofa? I call on you to fight with us."
He said the gathering would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our country."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the magistrate's decision was the potential of his transfer to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a record of arranging to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, the capital city, is located around 8 miles from his dwelling.
International Reactions
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative American leader Donald Trump, leading him to impose a 50% tariff on imports of Brazilian goods.
The former president is being kept in a national police facility in the capital and will have a imprisonment assessment on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under home confinement, with digital surveillance.
They also petitioned that Bolsonaro be allowed to depart his residence for medical care, saying he required ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was determined responsible of leading a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plan which included plans to kill his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was prevented because it didn't receive the backing of the military leaders. His successor was took office without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a following week, on January 8th, many his followers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the federal district, Brasília.
The police took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The justices found that the protesters had been incited by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the time, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also barred from campaigning for office until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The ex-leader called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him competing in the next presidential race.
