Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.
The ex-president was found guilty of planning a government overthrow in September and sentenced more than over two decades in incarceration, but he continued under confinement pending court reviews.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after fresh information emerged.
This encompassed trying to remove his ankle monitor and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the custody, the judge said data from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his getaway".
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
His child, his son Flávio, who holds office as a senator, called for a gathering of his followers near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on Friday: Will you battle for your homeland, or observe everything from your phone there on your settee? I urge you to battle with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could offer prayers for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's decision was the potential of the former president's move to foreign missions near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of organizing to request asylum through a consular facility", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the US embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is located around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative American leader President Trump, causing him to enact a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods.
He is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will undergo a custody hearing on the next day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that Bolsonaro be permitted to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he required regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other ailments.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was convicted of leading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the presidential race to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a plan which encompassed plans to murder his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - 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 military leaders. His successor was sworn in without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a following week, on 8 January, numerous his backers invaded and destroyed public facilities in the federal district, the capital city.
The security forces stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.
The judges found that the rioters had been incited by him whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, restore order and return him to office.
At the time, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years after the completion of his term.
The one-time head of state called the trial a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 national vote.
