Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.
The ex-president was sentenced of planning a armed takeover in last fall and given more than over two decades in prison, but he continued under home detention pending legal challenges.
High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a preventative measure after fresh information were revealed.
This included trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a call for a public vigil that could "allow for a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a document approving the custody, the magistrate said data from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his getaway".
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His child, Flávio, who serves as a senator, called for a assembly of his followers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your country, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your sofa? I urge you to fight with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could "pray for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the possibility of Bolsonaro's move to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a record of organizing to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the US embassy in the federal district, Brazil's capital, is positioned around 8 miles from the former president's residence.
Worldwide Consequences
Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist United States President Donald Trump, causing him to enact a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
The former president is being held in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will have a custody hearing on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that Bolsonaro be authorized to depart his residence for medical care, saying he required frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other health problems.
Background on Conviction
Bolsonaro was convicted of leading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he knew of a plan which included plans to assassinate Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was stopped because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the military leaders. The current president was inaugurated without incident on 1 January 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, thousands of his backers invaded and destroyed official structures in the federal district, the capital city.
The police stepped in and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.
The magistrates found that the protesters had been incited by Bolsonaro whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to take action, restore order and return him to office.
At the period, the legal team called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 national vote.
