Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The former head of state was sentenced of planning a armed takeover in September and handed more than 27 years in prison, but he continued under confinement pending legal challenges.
High Court Judge the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a precautionary step after recent developments came to light.
This involved attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a summons to a public vigil that could "allow for a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns
In a filing authorising the detention, the magistrate said data from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his flight.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his son.
His child, Flávio, who works as a senator, called for a assembly of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on the previous day: Will you battle for your country, or see it all from your mobile device there on your couch? I urge you to battle with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could "pray for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the chance of the former president's move to embassies near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a history of arranging to request asylum through a embassy office", a declaration said.
The legal document underscores that the US embassy in the federal district, Brazil's capital, is situated around 13km from his dwelling.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist United States President Donald Trump, leading him to implement a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
Bolsonaro is being held in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will have a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to allow him to complete his entire prison term under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also requested that he be authorized to leave his home for medical care, saying he needed regular treatment for lung conditions and other ailments.
Background on Conviction
Bolsonaro was convicted of heading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Lula.
High Court judges said that he was aware of a plan which encompassed plans to assassinate Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was prevented because it failed to get the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. His successor was took office without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, thousands of his backers stormed and vandalised official structures in the capital, Brazil's capital.
The police stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The magistrates found that the protesters had been encouraged by him whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the period, the legal team called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also barred from seeking elected position until 2060 - eight years later after the completion of his term.
The one-time head of state called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 presidential election.
