The former Brazilian leader has been detained after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The former head of state was found guilty of planning a military coup in last fall and sentenced more than over two decades in prison, but he remained under house arrest pending appeals.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after fresh information emerged.
This included seeking to disable his tracking device and a invitation to a demonstration that could "allow for a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the detention, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the tracking monitor to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the protest called by his child.
His child, Flávio, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his backers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on online platforms on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or observe everything from your phone there on your settee? I urge you to fight with us."
He said the demonstration would be so backers could "pray for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the possibility of the former president's move to foreign missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a history of arranging to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.
The court filing underscores that the US embassy in the federal district, Brasilia, is located around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist US President Trump, prompting him to enact a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
He is being held in a Federal Police station in the capital and will undergo a custody hearing on Sunday.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to allow him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with tracking devices.
They also asked that he be permitted to depart his residence for medical care, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other ailments.
Details of Guilty Verdict
He was convicted of orchestrating a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he knew of a plot which involved plans to murder his opponent and his running partner, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The plot was prevented because it didn't receive the endorsement of the military leaders. The current president was sworn in without incident on 1 January 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, many his followers invaded and destroyed official structures in the national capital, the capital city.
The security forces took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The judges found that the protesters had been provoked by him whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to take action, restore order and return him to office.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - eight years later after the end of his sentence.
The ex-leader called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 national vote.
