Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The one-time leader was found guilty of planning a government overthrow in September and given more than 27 years in prison, but he was staying under home detention pending legal challenges.
High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after recent developments came to light.
This encompassed trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a invitation to a public vigil that could "allow for a chance to flee".
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a paperwork permitting the custody, the judge said intelligence from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his son.
His child, his son Flávio, who holds office as a legislator, called for a assembly of his followers near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on the previous day: Will you battle for your homeland, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I urge you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so followers could "pray for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's decision was the possibility of his transfer to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of arranging to ask for protection through a consular facility", a statement said.
The court filing highlights that the US embassy in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around 8 miles from his dwelling.
Global Responses
His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist United States President Trump, causing him to implement a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
The former president is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will experience a detention review on the next day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
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 domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also asked that he be permitted to leave his home for healthcare, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Context of Sentencing
He was found guilty of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the national vote to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he knew of a plan which included plans to kill his opponent and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was thwarted because it didn't receive the backing of the military leaders. Lula was inaugurated without incident on the first day of 2023.
But a seven days after, on 8 January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed public facilities in the national capital, the capital city.
The law enforcement intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.
The judges found that the protesters had been encouraged by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence extremely harsh.
He was also barred from running for public office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The ex-leader called the trial a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the next presidential race.