Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.
The one-time leader was sentenced of plotting a government overthrow in September and handed more than 27 years in prison, but he continued under home detention pending appeals.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" came to light.
This involved trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a invitation to a public vigil that could facilitate a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Escape Risks
In a paperwork permitting the detention, the judge said information from the unit overseeing his home detention suggested the former leader's plan to remove the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his child.
His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a legislator, called for a meeting of his followers near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.
The senator wrote on online platforms on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your country, or watch it all from your phone there on your sofa? I invite you to fight with us."
He said the gathering would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the potential of his transfer to foreign missions near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of organizing to ask for protection through a embassy office", a announcement said.
The legal document underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, Brasilia, is located around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
International Reactions
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist US President President Trump, leading him to impose a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports.
The former president is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will have a custody hearing on Sunday.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the Top Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also asked that the former president be permitted to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he required regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was convicted of heading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the national vote to his ideological adversary, Lula.
High Court judges said that he knew of a scheme which included plans to kill his opponent and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was thwarted because it didn't receive the endorsement of the armed forces officials. The current president was inaugurated without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, many his backers stormed and vandalised official structures in the capital, the capital city.
The police stepped in and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.
The justices found that the rioters had been incited by him whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to step in, bring back stability and return him to office.
At the time, the legal team called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years after the end of his sentence.
The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him participating in the 2026 presidential election.
