Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.
The one-time leader was convicted of orchestrating a military coup in last fall and given more than a 27-year term in prison, but he remained under home detention pending court reviews.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a preventative measure after recent developments emerged.
This involved attempting to break his ankle monitor and a call for a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the arrest, the judge said data from the unit overseeing his home detention suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the tracking monitor to ensure success in his flight.
This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the protest called by his offspring.
His offspring, his son Flávio, who works as a legislator, called for a meeting of his supporters near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.
The senator wrote on digital networks on last Friday: Will you battle for your country, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I call on you to fight with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's determination was the possibility of Bolsonaro's "relocation to foreign missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a record of organizing to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.
The judicial paperwork highlights that the US embassy in the capital, Brazil's capital, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative American leader Trump, prompting him to impose a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods.
He is being detained in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will have a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that the former president be allowed to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he required frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was determined responsible of heading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he knew of a scheme which included plans to kill the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing the former president's case.
The plot was stopped because it failed to get the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. Lula was took office without problem on the first day of 2023.
But a seven days after, on January 8th, numerous his backers invaded and destroyed official structures in the federal district, Brazil's capital.
The security forces took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The judges found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to step in, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.
At the time, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - eight years after the completion of his term.
The one-time head of state called the court case a targeted investigation" and said it was intended to stop him competing in the 2026 national vote.