Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under domestic detention.
The ex-president was found guilty of plotting a government overthrow in last fall and handed more than 27 years in prison, but he continued under house arrest pending legal challenges.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after recent developments came to light.
This included seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a call for a demonstration that could facilitate a possible escape.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a document approving the arrest, Justice Moraes said information from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's aim to disable 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 offspring.
His child, his son Flávio, who holds office as a senator, called for a meeting of his backers near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.
The senator wrote on online platforms on Friday: Will you battle for your country, or observe everything from your phone there on your sofa? I invite you to fight with us."
He said the vigil would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our country."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the chance of the former president's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a record of organizing to request asylum through a consular facility", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow conservative nationalist US President President Trump, leading him to enact a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
Bolsonaro is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a custody hearing on the next day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under home confinement, with electronic monitoring.
They also asked that the former president be permitted to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he required ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Details of Guilty Verdict
The former president was determined responsible of heading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Top judicial officials said that he was aware of a scheme which involved plans to assassinate his opponent and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.
The plot was prevented because it didn't receive the backing of the armed forces officials. His successor was inaugurated without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a following week, on January 8th, many Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed government buildings in the capital, Brazil's capital.
The law enforcement intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The justices found that the protesters had been encouraged by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to step in, bring back stability and return him to office.
At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also barred from seeking elected position until 2060 - eight years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The former president called the court case a targeted investigation" and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the 2026 presidential election.
