Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.
The one-time leader was sentenced of planning a government overthrow in last fall and handed more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he continued under home detention pending legal challenges.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" were revealed.
This encompassed seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could enable a chance to flee".
Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns
In a filing authorising the detention, Justice Moraes said information from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's plan to remove the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his escape.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His child, Flávio, who serves as a legislator, called for a assembly of his supporters near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.
The senator wrote on online platforms on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or watch it all from your phone there on your settee? I call on you to fight with us."
He said the demonstration would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the potential of Bolsonaro's transfer to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a history of organizing to request asylum through a embassy office", a declaration said.
The court filing highlights that the US embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is positioned around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist American leader President Trump, causing him to enact a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports.
Bolsonaro is being kept in a Federal Police station in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a detention review on the next day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on the previous day that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also requested that Bolsonaro be authorized to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he needed frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Context of Sentencing
The former president was found guilty of heading a conspiracy aimed at retaining his authority after he was defeated in the national vote to his left-wing rival, Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a plot which involved plans to kill his opponent and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The plot was thwarted because it didn't receive the support of the military leaders. Lula was took office without issue on January 1st, 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, many his backers attacked and damaged government buildings in the federal district, the capital city.
The police took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The justices found that the rioters had been provoked by him whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, restore order and reinstate his authority.
At the time, the legal team called the over 27-year sentence extremely harsh.
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the end of his sentence.
The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the next presidential race.
