The former Brazilian leader has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under domestic detention.
The former head of state was sentenced of orchestrating a armed takeover in September and sentenced more than over two decades in prison, but he was staying under home detention pending court reviews.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a safety action after recent developments came to light.
This included seeking to disable his tracking device and a invitation to a demonstration that could facilitate a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the custody, the judge said intelligence from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the tracking monitor to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be assisted by the confusion caused by the gathering called by his child.
His son, Flávio, who holds office as a senator, called for a gathering of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or see it all from your mobile device there on your couch? I urge you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so followers could "pray for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our country."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the judge's decision was the chance of the former president's "relocation to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of organizing to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.
The court filing emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, the capital city, is positioned around 13km from his dwelling.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative American leader Trump, causing him to impose a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
The former president is being kept in a Federal Police station in the capital and will have a imprisonment assessment 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 serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with digital surveillance.
They also requested that Bolsonaro be permitted to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other ailments.
Context of Sentencing
He was convicted of heading a conspiracy aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the national vote to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a plan which involved plans to murder the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.
The scheme was stopped because it failed to get the backing of the military leaders. His successor was inaugurated without incident on the first day of 2023.
But a following week, on 8 January, many his followers attacked and damaged government buildings in the federal district, Brasília.
The security forces intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.
The judges found that the rioters had been provoked by him whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from campaigning for office until the year 2060 - eight years later after the end of his sentence.
The ex-leader called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 presidential election.
