Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities found he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.
The former head of state was found guilty of orchestrating a military coup in September and handed more than 27 years in jail, but he was staying under house arrest pending court reviews.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a precautionary step after fresh information were revealed.
This included trying to remove his tracking device and a summons to a demonstration that could enable a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Escape Risks
In a document approving the detention, the magistrate said information from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his son.
His offspring, his son Flávio, who serves as a legislator, called for a assembly of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.
His son wrote on social media on Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or see it all from your mobile device there on your sofa? I urge you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his health and for the return of democracy in our land."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the potential of his transfer to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a background of arranging to seek refuge through a consular facility", a statement said.
The court filing highlights that the US embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is situated around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist United States President President Trump, leading him to enact a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
Bolsonaro is being held in a Federal Police station in the capital and will undergo a custody hearing on the next day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to permit him to complete his entire prison term under home confinement, with electronic monitoring.
They also requested that he be allowed to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he required regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
He was found guilty of heading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a plot which included plans to kill his opponent and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing the former president's case.
The scheme was thwarted because it failed to get the backing of the military leaders. His successor was inaugurated without issue on 1 January 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, thousands of his followers invaded and destroyed government buildings in the national capital, the capital city.
The police intervened and around approximately 1,500 persons were taken into custody.
The justices found that the demonstrators had been provoked by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, restore order and bring him back to power.
At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also barred from campaigning for office until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The former president called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the 2026 presidential election.
