Jair Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was convicted of plotting a military coup in last fall and handed more than a 27-year term in jail, but he was staying under home detention pending appeals.
Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a safety action after fresh information came to light.
This encompassed attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a call for a demonstration that could facilitate a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a document approving the arrest, the judge said information from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his getaway".
This, it said, would be assisted by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his son.
His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a legislator, called for a meeting of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your settee? I call on you to battle with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could offer prayers for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our nation."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the chance of the former president's transfer to embassies near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of planning to ask for protection through a embassy office", a statement said.
The court filing underscores that the US embassy in the capital, the capital city, is positioned around 8 miles from his dwelling.
International Reactions
His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative United States President Trump, leading him to impose a 50% tariff on imports of Brazilian goods.
The former president is being kept in a Federal Police station in the capital and will have a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to permit him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that the former president be allowed to leave his home for medical care, saying he needed regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Background on Conviction
He was found guilty of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he knew of a scheme which encompassed plans to assassinate Lula and his running partner, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The scheme was prevented because it didn't receive the support of the armed forces officials. The current president was inaugurated without issue on 1 January 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged public facilities in the federal district, Brasília.
The law enforcement intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The judges found that the rioters had been incited by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to take action, bring back stability and bring him back to power.
At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - eight years after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him participating in the 2026 presidential election.
