The former Brazilian leader has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The ex-president was found guilty of plotting a government overthrow in last fall and given more than 27 years in jail, but he was staying under house arrest pending appeals.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a preventative measure after recent developments were revealed.
This encompassed seeking to disable his electronic bracelet and a call for a public vigil that could "allow for a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, the judge said information from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's "intention to break the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the protest called by his offspring.
His child, his son Flávio, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on online platforms on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or see it all from your phone there on your couch? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our country."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's determination was the potential of Bolsonaro's "relocation to foreign missions near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a history of arranging to ask for protection through a embassy office", a statement said.
The legal document underscores that the United States embassy in the capital, the capital city, is positioned around 13km from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
His judicial problems have generated frustration from fellow conservative nationalist American leader Trump, prompting him to impose a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports.
The former president is being kept in a Federal Police station in the capital and will have a detention review on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that Bolsonaro be authorized to leave his home for medical care, saying he needed regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
He was determined responsible of orchestrating a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the presidential race to his left-wing rival, Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he was aware of a scheme which involved plans to kill Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing the former president's case.
The plot was prevented because it didn't receive the support of the armed forces officials. The current president was inaugurated without problem on January 1st, 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, many his followers attacked and damaged public facilities in the federal district, the capital city.
The police stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The justices found that the protesters had been incited by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, bring back stability and return him to office.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from running for public office until the year 2060 - eight years after the completion of his term.
The former president called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him participating in the 2026 national vote.
