The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under domestic detention.
The ex-president was sentenced of planning a military coup in last fall and sentenced more than over two decades in incarceration, but he continued under home detention pending court reviews.
Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a safety action after fresh information came to light.
This included trying to remove his tracking device and a summons to a public vigil that could facilitate a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the arrest, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the protest called by his child.
His child, Flávio, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.
The senator wrote on digital networks on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or observe everything from your phone there on your settee? I urge you to fight with us."
He said the gathering would be so backers could "pray for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the chance of Bolsonaro's "relocation to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a record of planning to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.
The legal document emphasizes that the United States embassy in the national capital, the capital city, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist United States President President Trump, causing him to implement a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
Bolsonaro is being detained in a national police facility in the capital and will have a detention review on Sunday.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to allow him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.
They also petitioned that he be allowed to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he demanded ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Details of Guilty Verdict
The former president was found guilty of leading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the presidential race to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a scheme which included plans to murder Lula and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing his judicial proceedings.
The plot was stopped because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. The current president was sworn in without problem on the first day of 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, numerous his backers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the federal district, the capital city.
The security forces stepped in and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.
The judges found that the protesters had been incited by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to take action, restore order and reinstate his authority.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also barred from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The ex-leader called the trial a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him participating in the 2026 national vote.
