Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was sentenced of plotting a armed takeover in September and handed more than over two decades in prison, but he remained under confinement pending legal challenges.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after recent developments were revealed.
This included attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a call for a supporters' gathering that could enable a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a document approving the detention, the judge said intelligence from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the tracking monitor to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the protest called by his son.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a senator, called for a assembly of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on online platforms on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your country, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your sofa? I invite you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the possibility of the former president's move to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a background of planning to seek refuge through a consular facility", a declaration said.
The legal document underscores that the United States embassy in the capital, Brazil's capital, is located around 8 miles from his dwelling.
International Reactions
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative US President President Trump, prompting him to implement a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods.
The former president is being held in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will undergo a detention review on Sunday.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to permit him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that he be permitted to leave his home for healthcare, saying he needed regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Background on Conviction
Bolsonaro was convicted of heading a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a plot which involved plans to murder his opponent and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The plot was thwarted because it didn't receive the support of the armed forces officials. His successor was took office without issue on January 1st, 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, numerous his backers invaded and destroyed government buildings in the national capital, the capital city.
The law enforcement took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The judges found that the protesters had been incited by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.
At the moment, the legal team called the over 27-year sentence extremely harsh.
He was also barred from seeking elected position until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The former president called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 presidential election.
