Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.
The ex-president was convicted of planning a armed takeover in last fall and given more than over two decades in incarceration, but he was staying under confinement pending court reviews.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" came to light.
This included trying to remove his tracking device and a call for a supporters' gathering that could enable a possible escape.
Court Filing Details Escape Concerns
In a filing authorising the custody, the magistrate said intelligence from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's aim to disable the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.
His son, his son Flávio, who works as a senator, called for a gathering of his followers near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.
His son wrote on digital networks on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the potential of Bolsonaro's "relocation to foreign missions near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of organizing to ask for protection through a consular facility", a announcement said.
The court filing underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around 8 miles from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
His judicial problems have generated frustration from fellow conservative nationalist US President Trump, causing him to implement a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
Bolsonaro is being held in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will have a custody hearing on the following day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with tracking devices.
They also asked that he be authorized to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other ailments.
Background on Conviction
He was found guilty of leading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a scheme which included plans to kill the current president and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The scheme was thwarted because it failed to get the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. Lula was inaugurated without incident on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on January 8th, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged public facilities in the capital, Brazil's capital.
The police stepped in and around 1,500 people were detained.
The justices found that the protesters had been incited by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from running for public office until the year 2060 - eight years after the completion of his term.
The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 national vote.
