Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities found he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.
The ex-president was found guilty of planning a armed takeover in September and given more than a 27-year term in jail, but he remained under confinement pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after recent developments came to light.
This included attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a call for a public vigil that could enable a chance to flee".
Judicial Records Show Escape Risks
In a document approving the detention, Justice Moraes said data from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his getaway".
This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
His son, Flávio, who holds office as a senator, called for a meeting of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.
His son wrote on digital networks on last Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your sofa? I urge you to struggle with us."
He said the vigil would be so followers could "pray for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's decision was the potential of the former president's "relocation to embassies near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a record of planning to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.
The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the US embassy in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is located around 13km from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist American leader Donald Trump, leading him to enact a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods.
The former president is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will undergo a detention review on Sunday.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also asked that he be allowed to depart his residence for medical care, saying he demanded ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other ailments.
Context of Sentencing
He was found guilty of heading a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plot which included plans to kill Lula and his running partner, Alckmin, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing the former president's case.
The conspiracy was prevented because it didn't receive the backing of the army and air force commanders. His successor was took office without problem on January 1st, 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, thousands of his followers invaded and destroyed government buildings in the federal district, Brazil's capital.
The police intervened and around 1,500 people were arrested.
The magistrates found that the protesters had been incited by Bolsonaro whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, restore order and reinstate his authority.
At the period, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence extremely harsh.
He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the trial a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the 2026 presidential election.
