Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.
The ex-president was found guilty of plotting a armed takeover in last fall and handed more than a 27-year term in prison, but he continued under confinement pending legal challenges.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after recent developments emerged.
This encompassed attempting to break his tracking device and a summons to a demonstration that could enable a chance to flee".
Judicial Records Show Escape Risks
In a paperwork permitting the detention, the judge said information from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his flight.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his son.
His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a legislator, called for a meeting of his followers near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.
His son wrote on online platforms on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your country, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your sofa? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so backers could offer prayers for his health and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the potential of the former president's move to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a background of arranging to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.
The judicial paperwork highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, Brasilia, is located around 8 miles from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative American leader Trump, causing him to enact a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
He is being kept in a national police facility in the capital and will experience a detention review on the following day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that he be allowed to depart his residence for medical care, saying he required frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other health problems.
Background on Conviction
The former president was found guilty of orchestrating a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a plot which encompassed plans to kill the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The conspiracy was prevented because it didn't receive the endorsement of the military leaders. His successor was sworn in without issue on January 1st, 2023.
But a seven days after, on 8 January, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed government buildings in the federal district, the capital city.
The police took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The justices found that the protesters had been incited by him whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, bring back stability and return him to office.
At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the next presidential race.
