Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.
The former head of state was convicted of orchestrating a armed takeover in the ninth month and handed more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he remained under home detention pending appeals.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after recent developments emerged.
This included trying to remove his tracking device and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a possible escape.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a document approving the arrest, Justice Moraes said information from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his getaway".
This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the protest called by his offspring.
His offspring, his son Flávio, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his supporters near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on online platforms on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or observe everything from your phone there on your settee? I urge you to fight with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could offer prayers for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the chance of the former president's move to embassies near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of arranging to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.
The legal document emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, Brasilia, is positioned around 8 miles from his dwelling.
Worldwide Consequences
Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist American leader Donald Trump, prompting him to implement a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
He is being held in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will experience a custody hearing on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with digital surveillance.
They also petitioned that he be permitted to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he needed ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other ailments.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was convicted of leading a conspiracy aimed at retaining his authority after he was defeated in the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plan which encompassed plans to kill Lula and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The conspiracy was thwarted because it didn't receive the support of the armed forces officials. Lula was took office without problem on 1 January 2023.
But a seven days after, on 8 January, numerous his followers attacked and damaged government buildings in the federal district, Brazil's capital.
The security forces took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been incited by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.
At the moment, the legal team called the over 27-year sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The former president called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him competing in the 2026 national vote.
