Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.
The ex-president was sentenced of planning a military coup in September and sentenced more than a 27-year term in jail, but he remained under confinement pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" emerged.
This encompassed seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a invitation to a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a document approving the custody, the magistrate said intelligence from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the former leader's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to secure accomplishment in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his son.
His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a senator, called for a gathering of his backers near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.
His son wrote on social media on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or see it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I urge you to battle with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could "pray for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the judge's determination was the chance of his "relocation to foreign missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a history of planning to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.
The court filing highlights that the United States embassy in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is positioned around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.
Worldwide Consequences
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative American leader President Trump, causing him to enact a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
Bolsonaro is being detained in a Federal Police station in the capital and will have a detention review on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the Supreme Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with tracking devices.
They also requested that he be authorized to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he demanded regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
The former president was determined responsible of orchestrating a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a plan which involved plans to murder his opponent and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The plot was stopped because it didn't receive the endorsement of the military leaders. Lula was inaugurated without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a seven days after, on 8 January, thousands of his backers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the federal district, Brazil's capital.
The law enforcement intervened and around 1,500 people were detained.
The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by him whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to step in, restore order and bring him back to power.
At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from campaigning for office until 2060 - eight years later after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The ex-leader called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 national vote.
