Jair Bolsonaro arrested after being declared a flight risk
Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.
The former head of state was found guilty of orchestrating a armed takeover in September and handed more than a 27-year term in prison, but he continued under home detention pending legal challenges.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice the presiding justice said the move to detain the elderly politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" emerged.
This included attempting to break his tracking device and a invitation to a public vigil that could facilitate a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a paperwork permitting the detention, Justice Moraes said information from the unit overseeing his home detention suggested the former leader's "intention to break the tracking monitor to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His child, his son Flávio, who holds office as a senator, called for a gathering of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.
The senator wrote on online platforms on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the vigil would be so followers could offer prayers for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our land."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the chance of his "relocation to embassies near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a history of arranging to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.
The judicial paperwork highlights that the US embassy in the national capital, Brasilia, is positioned around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.
Worldwide Consequences
His judicial problems have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist US President President Trump, prompting him to enact a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.
Bolsonaro is being kept in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will experience a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to permit him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that the former president be permitted to leave his home for healthcare, saying he required frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other health problems.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was determined responsible of heading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the presidential race to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Top judicial officials said that he knew of a scheme which included plans to assassinate his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing the former president's case.
The conspiracy was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. Lula was sworn in without issue on 1 January 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised official structures in the federal district, Brazil's capital.
The security forces took action and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.
The justices found that the protesters had been provoked by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the period, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also barred from running for public office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the end of his sentence.
The ex-leader called the trial a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the next presidential race.