Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The ex-president was sentenced of planning a armed takeover in the ninth month and sentenced more than over two decades in prison, but he continued under house arrest pending court reviews.
High Court Judge the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after fresh information emerged.
This involved attempting to break his ankle monitor and a invitation to a demonstration that could "allow for a potential flight.
Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the arrest, the judge said information from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a legislator, called for a meeting of his followers near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or see it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I call on you to fight with us."
He said the demonstration would be so followers could "pray for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the potential of his transfer to embassies near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a record of arranging to request asylum through a consular facility", a statement said.
The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the US embassy in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is located around 13km from his dwelling.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist US President President Trump, leading him to impose 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 undergo a detention review on the next day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the Top Court to permit him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with tracking devices.
They also asked that Bolsonaro be allowed to leave his home for healthcare, saying he needed frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Context of Sentencing
He was found guilty of heading a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the national vote to his ideological adversary, Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a scheme which encompassed plans to kill his opponent and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.
The scheme was thwarted because it failed to get the backing of the armed forces officials. His successor was inaugurated without incident on 1 January 2023.
But a week later, on 8 January, many his followers attacked and damaged official structures in the capital, Brazil's capital.
The law enforcement intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The magistrates found that the protesters had been provoked by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, bring back stability and return him to office.
At the moment, the legal team called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.
He was also prohibited from running for public office until twenty-sixty - eight years after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 presidential election.
