Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was convicted of plotting a military coup in the ninth month and handed more than over two decades in prison, but he was staying under confinement pending appeals.
Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after recent developments were revealed.
This involved attempting to break his ankle monitor and a invitation to a demonstration that could enable a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the custody, the judge said information from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his escape.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his son.
His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.
His son wrote on online platforms on last Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your couch? I invite you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the chance of Bolsonaro's "relocation to embassies near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a background of organizing to ask for protection through a embassy office", a declaration said.
The court filing highlights that the US embassy in the federal district, Brasilia, is positioned around 13km from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative US President President Trump, causing him to enact a 50% tariff on goods coming from Brazil.
He is being kept in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will experience a custody hearing on Sunday.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on the previous day that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that he be permitted to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he required regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Details of Guilty Verdict
The former president was found guilty of leading a conspiracy aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he was aware of a plot which involved plans to murder his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The plot was stopped because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the armed forces officials. His successor was sworn in without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on 8 January, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged government buildings in the capital, Brazil's capital.
The security forces intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The judges found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to step in, restore order and return him to office.
At the time, the legal team called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 national vote.
