The former Brazilian leader has been arrested after authorities found he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.
The ex-president was found guilty of planning a armed takeover in September and handed more than over two decades in jail, but he continued under home detention pending appeals.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after recent developments were revealed.
This included attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a call for a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a possible escape.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a document approving the custody, Justice Moraes said data from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's "intention to break the tracking monitor to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his son.
His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a legislator, called for a gathering of his backers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on social media on Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or observe everything from your phone there on your sofa? I urge you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so followers could offer prayers for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our country."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the judge's decision was the potential of the former president's transfer to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a history of arranging to seek refuge through a embassy office", a statement said.
The court filing highlights that the US embassy in the national capital, the capital city, is positioned around 13km from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist American leader President Trump, leading him to impose a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
The former president is being detained in a Federal Police station in the capital and will experience a detention review on the next day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with tracking devices.
They also petitioned that he be allowed to depart his residence for medical care, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other health problems.
Background on Conviction
Bolsonaro was convicted of leading a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Top judicial officials said that he knew of a plot which included plans to kill the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was thwarted because it failed to get the backing of the army and air force commanders. Lula was sworn in without problem on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on January 8th, numerous his backers invaded and destroyed official structures in the national capital, the capital city.
The security forces stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The justices found that the demonstrators had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the moment, the legal team called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.
He was also barred from running for public office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the court case a targeted investigation" and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the next presidential race.
