Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.
The ex-president was convicted of planning a military coup in September and handed more than a 27-year term in jail, but he remained under home detention pending legal challenges.
High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after recent developments were revealed.
This encompassed trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a call for a public vigil that could facilitate a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the custody, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the surveillance device to ensure success in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
His son, Flávio, who serves as a legislator, called for a assembly of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.
His son wrote on online platforms on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or see it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I call on you to battle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could seek divine intervention 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 potential of his "relocation to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of arranging to request asylum through a embassy office", a statement said.
The legal document emphasizes that the US embassy in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from his dwelling.
Global Responses
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative American leader President Trump, leading him to impose a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
The former president is being kept in a national police facility in Brasilia and will have a detention review on the following day.
Recent Legal Requests
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 domestic detention, with digital surveillance.
They also petitioned that Bolsonaro be authorized to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he needed ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Details of Guilty Verdict
The former president was found guilty of heading a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the national vote to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a plot which included plans to assassinate the current president and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The conspiracy was prevented because it failed to get the endorsement of the armed forces officials. The current president was sworn in without problem on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on 8 January, many his followers attacked and damaged public facilities in the national capital, the capital city.
The police took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The justices found that the protesters had been provoked by him whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the moment, the legal team called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from running for public office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The former president called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the 2026 national vote.
