The former Brazilian leader has been detained after authorities found he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.
The one-time leader was convicted of planning a armed takeover in the ninth month and sentenced more than 27 years in incarceration, but he remained under confinement pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after "new facts" came to light.
This encompassed trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a summons to a public vigil that could enable a chance to flee".
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, Justice Moraes said information from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his flight.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a senator, called for a meeting of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.
His son wrote on social media on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or see it all from your mobile device there on your sofa? I call on you to fight with us."
He said the vigil would be so followers could "pray for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the potential of the former president's move to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a background of planning to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.
The legal document underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, the capital city, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist American leader Trump, leading him to enact a 50% tariff on goods coming from Brazil.
He is being detained in a Federal Police station in the capital and will undergo a detention review on Sunday.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under house arrest, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that he be permitted to exit his dwelling for medical treatment, saying he demanded regular treatment for respiratory ailments 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 national vote to his ideological adversary, Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he was aware of a plot which encompassed plans to assassinate Lula and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The plot was prevented because it failed to get the support of the army and air force commanders. The current president was sworn in without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, many his backers invaded and destroyed government buildings in the national capital, the capital city.
The police took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The magistrates found that the protesters had been encouraged by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, restore order and reinstate his authority.
At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from running for public office until 2060 - eight years later after the completion of his term.
The former president called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him running in the 2026 national vote.
