Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.
The ex-president was found guilty of orchestrating a government overthrow in last fall and handed more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he continued under house arrest pending court reviews.
High Court Judge the presiding justice said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after "new facts" were revealed.
This encompassed trying to remove his tracking device and a summons to a public vigil that could facilitate a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the detention, the magistrate said data from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his escape.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.
His offspring, his son Flávio, who serves as a legislator, called for a assembly of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on social media on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your couch? I urge you to battle with us."
He said the vigil would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the possibility of the former president's transfer to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of arranging to ask for protection through a embassy office", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the United States embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is located around 13km from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow right-wing populist United States President Trump, causing him to implement a 50% tariff on goods coming from Brazil.
He is being detained in a Federal Police station in the capital and will have a imprisonment assessment on the next day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the Top Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that he be allowed to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he needed frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was determined responsible of heading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plan which encompassed plans to kill the current president and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was stopped because it didn't receive the backing of the armed forces officials. Lula was inaugurated without incident on 1 January 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, numerous his backers attacked and damaged official structures in the capital, Brasília.
The police stepped in and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.
The judges found that the demonstrators had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the time, the legal team called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the completion of his term.
The one-time head of state called the trial a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the next presidential race.
