Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The former head of state was sentenced of planning a military coup in last fall and handed more than a 27-year term in jail, but he remained under home detention pending court reviews.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" came to light.
This included attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a call for a public vigil that could facilitate a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a document approving the arrest, the judge said intelligence from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his flight.
This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.
His child, his son Flávio, who holds office as a senator, called for a gathering of his followers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.
The senator wrote on social media on Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or observe everything from your phone there on your settee? I urge you to fight with us."
He said the gathering would be so backers could offer prayers for his health and for the return of democracy in our country."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the judge's ruling was the possibility of his "relocation to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a history of planning to request asylum through a consular facility", a statement said.
The court filing emphasizes that the US embassy in the capital, the capital city, is located around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist US President President Trump, prompting him to enact a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
Bolsonaro is being kept in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will have a custody hearing on Sunday.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to authorize him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with digital surveillance.
They also petitioned that he be permitted to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he required regular treatment for lung conditions and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was convicted of leading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the presidential race to his political opponent, President Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a scheme which encompassed plans to murder Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing the former president's case.
The scheme was stopped because it didn't receive the endorsement of the military leaders. His successor was sworn in without problem on the first day of 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, many his followers invaded and destroyed government buildings in the federal district, the capital city.
The security forces took action and around 1,500 people were detained.
The justices found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by him whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to take action, restore order and reinstate his authority.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also barred from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 national vote.
