Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.
The one-time leader was convicted of planning a government overthrow in September and sentenced more than a 27-year term in prison, but he was staying under home detention pending appeals.
High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a safety action after recent developments emerged.
This included attempting to break his tracking device and a invitation to a public vigil that could "allow for a chance to flee".
Judicial Records Show Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the arrest, Justice Moraes said information from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his flight.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.
His offspring, Flávio, who holds office as a legislator, called for a meeting of his supporters near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our country."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the possibility of Bolsonaro's move to embassies near the home, considering that the probes revealed a history of planning to ask for protection through a embassy office", a statement said.
The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, Brazil's capital, is positioned around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative American leader President Trump, prompting him to enact a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods.
The former president is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will have a imprisonment assessment on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with digital surveillance.
They also requested that he be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he required frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Background on Conviction
Bolsonaro was determined responsible of orchestrating a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the national vote to his political opponent, President Lula.
High Court judges said that he was aware of a plan which involved plans to assassinate his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was prevented because it failed to get the endorsement of the armed forces officials. Lula was inaugurated without incident on the first day of 2023.
But a following week, on January 8th, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed public facilities in the national capital, Brasília.
The security forces stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The judges found that the demonstrators had been incited by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the period, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence extremely harsh.
He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The ex-leader called the court case a targeted investigation" and said it was intended to stop him participating in the next presidential race.
