Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The ex-president was convicted of plotting a military coup in the ninth month and given more than over two decades in prison, but he continued under home detention pending legal challenges.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice the presiding justice said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" came to light.
This included attempting to break his ankle monitor and a invitation to a demonstration that could facilitate a chance to flee".
Court Filing Details Flight Fears
In a document approving the custody, the magistrate said information from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his flight.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the protest called by his child.
His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a senator, called for a assembly of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.
His son wrote on online platforms on Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your sofa? I invite you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the potential of Bolsonaro's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a history of planning to request asylum through a embassy office", a statement said.
The court filing highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, the capital city, is positioned around 13km from the former president's residence.
Worldwide Consequences
Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow right-wing populist American leader President Trump, prompting him to impose a 50% tariff on goods coming from Brazil.
Bolsonaro is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will have a custody hearing on Sunday.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the Top Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with tracking devices.
They also petitioned that the former president be allowed to leave his home for healthcare, saying he required regular treatment for lung conditions and other ailments.
Context of Sentencing
The former president was found guilty of heading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a scheme which encompassed plans to murder the current president and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing the former president's case.
The plot was stopped because it didn't receive the backing of the army and air force commanders. Lula was sworn in without incident on 1 January 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, many his backers attacked and damaged official structures in the capital, Brazil's capital.
The law enforcement took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The judges found that the rioters had been encouraged by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to take action, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the time, the legal team called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also barred from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 national vote.
