Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under domestic detention.
The former head of state was sentenced of plotting a government overthrow in September and given more than over two decades in incarceration, but he was staying under confinement pending court reviews.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a safety action after recent developments were revealed.
This involved attempting to break his ankle monitor and a call for a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his son.
His offspring, his son Flávio, who works as a legislator, called for a meeting of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.
His son wrote on social media on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or see it all from your phone there on your couch? I invite you to battle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could "pray for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our country."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the possibility of the former president's "relocation to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of organizing to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.
The court filing highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, Brasilia, is located around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow conservative nationalist American leader Donald Trump, causing him to enact a 50% tariff on imports of Brazilian goods.
The former president is being kept in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will have a custody hearing on the following day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also petitioned that Bolsonaro be authorized to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he needed regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other ailments.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was convicted of heading a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, President Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a scheme which involved plans to kill the current president and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing the former president's case.
The scheme was prevented because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the armed forces officials. Lula was sworn in without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a following week, on January 8th, numerous Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised public facilities in the capital, the capital city.
The security forces intervened and around 1,500 people were detained.
The justices found that the rioters had been provoked by him whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to step in, bring back stability and bring him back to power.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also prohibited from running for public office until 2060 - eight years after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him running in the next presidential race.
