Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.
The one-time leader was found guilty of orchestrating a armed takeover in September and sentenced more than over two decades in jail, but he remained under confinement pending appeals.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after recent developments were revealed.
This involved seeking to disable his tracking device and a call for a demonstration that could enable a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Escape Risks
In a paperwork permitting the custody, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the surveillance device to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his son.
His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a legislator, called for a gathering of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.
The senator wrote on digital networks on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or observe everything from your phone there on your settee? I invite you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could offer prayers for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the magistrate's decision was the potential of the former president's "relocation to embassies near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of organizing to request asylum through a consular facility", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, Brasilia, is located around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative US President Donald Trump, leading him to enact a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
The former president is being held in a Federal Police station in Brazil's capital city and will have a imprisonment assessment on the following day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on the previous day that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also petitioned that he be authorized to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he demanded ongoing care for lung conditions and other illnesses.
Background on Conviction
He was convicted of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Top judicial officials said that he was aware of a scheme which included plans to murder the current president and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.
The conspiracy was prevented because it couldn't obtain the support of the military leaders. The current president was inaugurated without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, numerous his followers stormed and vandalised official structures in the capital, Brasília.
The law enforcement took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.
The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, bring back stability and bring him back to power.
At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The ex-leader called the court case a targeted investigation" and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 national vote.
