The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.
The one-time leader was convicted of planning a military coup in last fall and handed more than 27 years in prison, but he continued under confinement pending court reviews.
Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after recent developments emerged.
This included seeking to disable his tracking device and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could enable a chance to flee".
Judicial Records Show Escape Risks
In a document approving the detention, the magistrate 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 escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his child.
His child, Flávio, who serves as a senator, called for a meeting of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or see it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I urge you to fight with us."
He said the demonstration would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the possibility of his transfer to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a history of arranging to request asylum through a consular facility", a declaration said.
The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the US embassy in the capital, the capital city, is located around 8 miles from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist American leader Donald Trump, leading him to implement a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
Bolsonaro is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will have a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also requested that Bolsonaro be permitted to leave his home for medical care, saying he demanded regular treatment for lung conditions and other illnesses.
Background on Conviction
He was found guilty of leading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a plan which encompassed plans to murder the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The plot was stopped because it couldn't obtain the support of the army and air force commanders. The current president was sworn in without problem on January 1st, 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, numerous his followers attacked and damaged public facilities in the capital, the capital city.
The security forces stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The judges found that the protesters had been incited by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the period, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until 2060 - eight years after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the 2026 presidential election.
