Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The one-time leader was found guilty of planning a government overthrow in last fall and sentenced more than over two decades in prison, but he continued under house arrest pending court reviews.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after fresh information were revealed.
This included seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a call for a demonstration that could facilitate a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the detention, the judge said intelligence from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the tracking monitor to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his son.
His offspring, Flávio, who works as a senator, called for a meeting of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on online platforms on Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or watch it all from your phone there on your sofa? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could "pray for his health and for the return of democracy in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's decision was the possibility of Bolsonaro's move to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of planning to ask for protection through a embassy office", a statement said.
The court filing highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, Brasilia, is situated around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative US President Donald Trump, causing him to impose a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods.
Bolsonaro is being held in a Federal Police station in Brazil's capital city and will experience a custody hearing on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also requested that the former president be allowed to leave his home for medical care, saying he needed ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
The former president was found guilty of orchestrating a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
High Court judges said that he was aware of a scheme which involved plans to kill the current president and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.
The conspiracy was prevented because it couldn't obtain the support of the army and air force commanders. The current president was took office without incident on the first day of 2023.
But a seven days after, on January 8th, many Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged official structures in the national capital, the capital city.
The law enforcement stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.
The judges found that the rioters had been incited by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, restore order and reinstate his authority.
At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also barred from campaigning for office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the next presidential race.
