The former Brazilian leader has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The ex-president was found guilty of orchestrating a armed takeover in last fall and given more than 27 years in jail, but he was staying under confinement pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after recent developments came to light.
This involved attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a summons to a demonstration that could facilitate a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Concerns
In a filing authorising the arrest, the magistrate said intelligence from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the surveillance device to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his child.
His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a senator, called for a meeting of his followers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on online platforms on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or see it all from your phone there on your sofa? I urge you to fight with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could "pray for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's decision was the possibility of the former president's transfer to embassies near the home, considering that the probes revealed a record of planning to ask for protection through a embassy office", a announcement said.
The legal document underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, Brasilia, is situated around 13km from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow conservative nationalist American leader Trump, causing him to implement a 50% tariff on imports of Brazilian goods.
Bolsonaro is being kept in a national police facility in the capital and will have a imprisonment assessment on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the High Court to allow him to complete his entire prison term under home confinement, with electronic monitoring.
They also requested that Bolsonaro be authorized to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he required regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other ailments.
Details of Guilty Verdict
He was convicted of heading a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plan which included plans to assassinate his opponent and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing the former president's case.
The conspiracy was thwarted because it failed to get the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. His successor was inaugurated without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged public facilities in the federal district, Brazil's capital.
The security forces intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The magistrates found that the protesters had been incited by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, restore order and return him to office.
At the moment, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a targeted investigation" and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the 2026 national vote.
