Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The former head of state was found guilty of orchestrating a government overthrow in the ninth month and given more than a 27-year term in prison, but he remained under confinement pending legal challenges.
High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after fresh information came to light.
This included seeking to disable his tracking device and a summons to a demonstration that could facilitate a potential flight.
In a document approving the custody, Justice Moraes said data from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His child, his son Flávio, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his followers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on last Friday: Will you battle for your homeland, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your couch? I call on you to battle with us."
He said the gathering would be so backers could "pray for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our nation."
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the possibility of his transfer to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a record of organizing to ask for protection through a embassy office", a announcement 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.
The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative United States President President Trump, leading him to enact a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
The former president is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will have a detention review on Sunday.
It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the High Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with tracking devices.
They also petitioned that he be permitted to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he required regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other ailments.
The former president was convicted of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the national vote to his left-wing rival, Lula.
High Court judges said that he knew of a plan which involved plans to kill Lula and his running partner, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The conspiracy was prevented because it failed to get the backing of the military leaders. Lula was took office without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on January 8th, thousands of his backers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the national capital, the capital city.
The law enforcement intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The judges found that the protesters had been incited by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, restore order and bring him back to power.
At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers 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 end of his sentence.
The former president called the court case a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him competing in the 2026 presidential election.
