Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.
The ex-president was sentenced of planning a military coup in September and sentenced more than over two decades in prison, but he continued under house arrest pending court reviews.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice the presiding justice said the action to imprison the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" were revealed.
This included trying to remove his ankle monitor and a invitation to a demonstration that could facilitate a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, Justice Moraes said data from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his getaway".
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His son, Flávio, who serves as a legislator, called for a meeting of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on last Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or observe everything from your phone there on your sofa? I urge you to battle with us."
He said the gathering would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his health and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's decision was the chance of Bolsonaro's transfer to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a record of organizing to ask for protection through a embassy office", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, the capital city, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative American leader Donald Trump, leading him to enact a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
The former president is being held in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will have a detention review on Sunday.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the Top Court to allow him to complete his entire prison term under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that the former president be authorized to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was convicted of leading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the 2022 election to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plan which encompassed plans to assassinate the current president and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The plot was thwarted because it didn't receive the endorsement of the military leaders. The current president was inaugurated without incident on 1 January 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, many his backers attacked and damaged public facilities in the capital, Brasília.
The law enforcement stepped in and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the moment, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from running for public office until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 national vote.
