Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was found guilty of plotting a military coup in last fall and handed more than a 27-year term in prison, but he was staying under confinement pending appeals.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after fresh information were revealed.
This included seeking to disable his tracking device and a summons to a public vigil that could "allow for a chance to flee".
Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, the magistrate said data from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his getaway".
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the protest called by his child.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on social media on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or watch it all from your phone there on your couch? I call on you to battle with us."
He said the vigil would be so backers could "pray for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's determination was the potential of Bolsonaro's transfer to embassies near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a record of planning to seek refuge through a embassy office", a declaration said.
The legal document emphasizes that the US embassy in the national capital, Brasilia, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative US President Donald Trump, causing him to enact a 50% tariff on imports of Brazilian goods.
The former president is being kept in a national police facility in Brasilia and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the Top Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also petitioned that he be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he needed frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other ailments.
Context of Sentencing
He was determined responsible of leading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a plan which encompassed plans to kill Lula and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.
The conspiracy was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the backing of the military leaders. The current president was sworn in without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, thousands of his backers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the national capital, Brasília.
The security forces stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.
The judges found that the rioters had been incited by him whose scheme, 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 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also barred from campaigning for office until the year 2060 - eight years after the completion of his term.
The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him running in the 2026 presidential election.
