Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.
The one-time leader was convicted of planning a government overthrow in the ninth month and handed more than a 27-year term in jail, but he remained under confinement pending appeals.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" were revealed.
This encompassed attempting to break his ankle monitor and a call for a public vigil that could facilitate a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Escape Risks
In a document approving the detention, the judge said intelligence from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the former leader's "intention to break the surveillance device to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a legislator, called for a gathering of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on digital networks on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I urge you to battle with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the chance of the former president's transfer to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a record of arranging to ask for protection through a consular facility", a declaration said.
The court filing underscores that the United States embassy in the federal district, Brazil's capital, is situated around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative American leader Trump, leading him to impose a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods.
He is being held in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will experience a detention review on the following day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that the former president be permitted to leave his home for medical care, saying he required regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Background on Conviction
Bolsonaro was convicted of orchestrating a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the national vote to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Top judicial officials said that he knew of a scheme which encompassed plans to assassinate Lula and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The conspiracy was prevented because it failed to get the endorsement of the armed forces officials. The current president was sworn in without incident on 1 January 2023.
But a seven days after, on 8 January, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised public facilities in the capital, Brazil's capital.
The security forces stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The judges found that the protesters had been encouraged by him whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from running for public office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the trial a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 national vote.
