Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was found guilty of plotting a armed takeover in September and handed more than over two decades in prison, but he continued under home detention pending legal challenges.
High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after "new facts" emerged.
This encompassed seeking to disable his tracking device and a call for a demonstration that could enable a possible escape.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the arrest, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the former leader's aim to disable the tracking monitor to ensure success in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his backers near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.
His son wrote on digital networks on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or see it all from your smartphone there on your sofa? I urge you to battle with us."
He said the gathering would be so backers could "pray for his health and for the return of democracy in our country."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the potential of the former president's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a history of organizing to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.
The court filing highlights that the US embassy in the national capital, Brasilia, is situated around 13km from his dwelling.
Worldwide Consequences
His judicial problems have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative US President Trump, leading him to impose a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.
Bolsonaro is being detained in a Federal Police station in the capital and will experience a imprisonment assessment on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that he be authorized to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he needed regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
The former president was determined responsible of leading a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the presidential race to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a scheme which included plans to kill the current president and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was prevented because it couldn't obtain the backing of the army and air force commanders. Lula was inaugurated without incident on 1 January 2023.
But a seven days after, on 8 January, many his followers stormed and vandalised official structures in the federal district, the capital city.
The police stepped in and around 1,500 people were detained.
The justices found that the protesters had been incited by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.
At the time, 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 later after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The former president called the trial a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him running in the 2026 presidential election.
