Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.
The ex-president was sentenced of plotting a government overthrow in last fall and given more than a 27-year term in prison, but he was staying under home detention pending court reviews.
High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" emerged.
This included seeking to disable his tracking device and a call for a demonstration that could enable a chance to flee".
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the custody, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his flight.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.
His son, his son Flávio, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.
His son wrote on online platforms on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I invite you to fight with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could "pray for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our country."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's decision was the potential of the former president's "relocation to embassies near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of organizing to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.
The legal document underscores that the United States embassy in the capital, Brasilia, is situated around 8 miles from his dwelling.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative American leader Trump, causing him to implement a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods.
The former president is being held in a national police facility in Brasilia and will have a custody hearing on Sunday.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.
They also requested that Bolsonaro be permitted to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he needed regular treatment for lung conditions and other health problems.
Details of Guilty Verdict
He was convicted of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the presidential race to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a plan which encompassed plans to assassinate the current president and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.
The conspiracy was stopped because it failed to get the backing of the military leaders. Lula was took office without problem on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on January 8th, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed official structures in the national capital, the capital city.
The law enforcement stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The justices found that the rioters had been provoked by him whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the moment, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also prohibited from running for public office until twenty-sixty - eight years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The ex-leader called the trial a targeted investigation" and said it was intended to stop him participating in the 2026 presidential election.
