The former Brazilian leader 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 military coup in last fall and handed more than a 27-year term in prison, but he continued under confinement pending court reviews.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" came to light.
This included seeking to disable his tracking device and a summons to a public vigil that could "allow for a potential flight.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, the judge said intelligence from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the tracking monitor to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
His son, his son Flávio, who holds office as a senator, called for a meeting of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or see it all from your mobile device there on your couch? I urge you to struggle with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could offer prayers for his health and for the return of democracy in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the judge's ruling was the chance of his transfer to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a background of planning to request asylum through a embassy office", a declaration said.
The judicial paperwork highlights that the United States embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is situated around 13km from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow conservative nationalist US President Trump, prompting him to implement a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods.
The former president is being held in a national police facility in the capital and will experience a custody hearing on the next day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the High Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with tracking devices.
They also asked that Bolsonaro be allowed to depart his residence for medical care, saying he needed frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
He was found guilty of heading a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the presidential race to his political opponent, Lula.
High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a plan which involved plans to kill his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The plot was prevented because it couldn't obtain the support of the army and air force commanders. Lula was took office without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, thousands of his followers attacked and damaged official structures in the federal district, Brazil's capital.
The security forces intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The judges found that the rioters had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a targeted investigation" and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the next presidential race.
