The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.
The ex-president was sentenced of orchestrating a military coup in September and sentenced more than 27 years in incarceration, but he continued under home detention pending appeals.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after "new facts" were revealed.
This included trying to remove his tracking device and a call for a demonstration that could facilitate a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the detention, Justice Moraes said information from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the former leader's aim to disable the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his getaway".
This, it said, would be assisted by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.
His offspring, his son Flávio, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.
His son wrote on social media on last Friday: Will you battle for your country, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your couch? I invite you to battle with us."
He said the gathering would be so followers could "pray for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the judge's decision was the possibility of the former president's move to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of planning to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.
The court filing underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, Brasilia, is located around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative United States President Trump, causing him to implement a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.
He is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will experience a custody hearing on the following day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to allow him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also requested that he be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he needed regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Details of Guilty Verdict
The former president was found guilty of orchestrating a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Lula.
High Court judges said that he was aware of a plot which included plans to kill his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the backing of the armed forces officials. The current president was sworn in without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised government buildings in the capital, the capital city.
The security forces took action and around 1,500 people were arrested.
The judges found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the time, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.
He was also barred from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The one-time head of state called the trial a targeted investigation" and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the next presidential race.
