Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under home confinement.
The one-time leader was convicted of planning a military coup in last fall and given more than a 27-year term in jail, but he was staying under home detention pending appeals.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after "new facts" came to light.
This involved seeking to disable his electronic bracelet and a summons to a demonstration that could facilitate a potential flight.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the custody, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.
His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a legislator, called for a meeting of his backers 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 nation, or watch it all from your phone there on your settee? I invite you to fight with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could "pray for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the judge's ruling was the possibility of Bolsonaro's move to embassies near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a background of planning to seek refuge through a embassy office", a declaration said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the United States embassy in the federal district, Brasilia, is positioned around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist United States President Donald Trump, leading him to enact a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
He is being detained in a Federal Police station in the capital and will have a detention review on Sunday.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that he be authorized to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he needed frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other ailments.
Background on Conviction
The former president was determined responsible of heading a plot 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 knew of a plan which included plans to assassinate the current president and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.
The plot was prevented because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. His successor was took office without incident on the first day of 2023.
But a following week, on 8 January, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged public facilities in the federal district, the capital city.
The police took action and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to step in, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.
At the period, his attorneys called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from seeking elected position until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a targeted investigation" and said it was designed to prevent him running in the next presidential race.
