Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was convicted of plotting a armed takeover in the ninth month and sentenced more than over two decades in jail, but he remained under home detention pending appeals.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after recent developments came to light.
This involved attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a call for a public vigil that could facilitate a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the detention, the magistrate said information from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his child.
His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a senator, called for a assembly of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.
His son wrote on online platforms on last Friday: Will you battle for your homeland, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your sofa? I invite you to fight with us."
He said the demonstration would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the judge's decision was the potential of his transfer to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of planning to request asylum through a embassy office", a declaration said.
The legal document underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, the capital city, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative American leader Trump, leading him to implement a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
Bolsonaro is being kept in a national police facility in Brasilia and will have a custody hearing on Sunday.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to permit him to complete his entire prison term under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that Bolsonaro be authorized to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he required regular treatment for lung conditions and other health problems.
Background on Conviction
Bolsonaro was convicted of heading a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the presidential race to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plot which involved plans to murder the current president and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The scheme was stopped because it failed to get the endorsement of the military leaders. Lula was inaugurated without problem on 1 January 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, many Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged official structures in the national capital, Brasília.
The law enforcement stepped in and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.
The judges found that the protesters had been encouraged by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, restore order and bring him back to power.
At the time, the legal team called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also barred from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The ex-leader called the trial a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 national vote.
