Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.
The ex-president was sentenced of planning a armed takeover in last fall and sentenced more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he remained under house arrest pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after recent developments emerged.
This encompassed seeking to disable his tracking device and a invitation to a public vigil that could "allow for a possible escape.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the custody, Justice Moraes said data from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his getaway".
This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His offspring, his son Flávio, who holds office as a senator, called for a gathering of his backers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
His son wrote on online platforms on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or see it all from your phone there on your settee? I invite you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could "pray for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the potential of Bolsonaro's move to embassies near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a record of organizing to seek refuge through a consular facility", a statement said.
The judicial paperwork highlights that the United States embassy in the federal district, Brasilia, is positioned around 13km from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative US President Donald Trump, prompting him to impose a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.
Bolsonaro is being held in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a custody hearing on the following day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the Supreme Court to permit him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with electronic monitoring.
They also asked that the former president be permitted to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he needed regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Background on Conviction
He was found guilty of heading a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a scheme which included plans to assassinate Lula and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing the former president's case.
The conspiracy was stopped because it didn't receive the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. His successor was sworn in without incident on 1 January 2023.
But a seven days after, on 8 January, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised government buildings in the national capital, the capital city.
The police stepped in and around approximately 1,500 persons were detained.
The justices found that the protesters had been incited by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, restore order and reinstate his authority.
At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also prohibited from running for public office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The one-time head of state called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the 2026 national vote.
