Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.
The former head of state was sentenced of orchestrating a armed takeover in the ninth month and handed more than over two decades in prison, but he continued under confinement pending court reviews.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the action to imprison the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after fresh information emerged.
This included attempting to break his ankle monitor and a invitation to a public vigil that could facilitate a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the custody, the magistrate said intelligence from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his flight.
This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the protest called by his child.
His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a legislator, called for a gathering of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.
His son wrote on online platforms on Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or watch it all from your phone there on your couch? I invite you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so followers could "pray for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the potential of his "relocation to foreign missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a history of planning to seek refuge through a embassy office", a declaration said.
The legal document highlights that the US embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is situated around 13km from his dwelling.
Worldwide Consequences
Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist US President President Trump, leading him to impose a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
The former president is being detained in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will have a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that he be allowed to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he needed frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
He was convicted of heading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the 2022 election to his political opponent, Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a plot which involved plans to assassinate the current president and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was stopped because it failed to get the support of the army and air force commanders. His successor was took office without issue on 1 January 2023.
But a week later, on 8 January, thousands of his backers invaded and destroyed public facilities in the federal district, Brazil's capital.
The security forces stepped in and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.
The justices found that the protesters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to take action, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the moment, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from seeking elected position until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the court case a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the 2026 presidential election.
