Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The former head of state was convicted of planning a armed takeover in September and sentenced more than over two decades in prison, but he was staying under home detention pending legal challenges.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" emerged.
This involved trying to remove his tracking device and a summons to a demonstration that could facilitate a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the arrest, the judge said data from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the former leader's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to secure accomplishment in his flight.
This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his son.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his backers near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.
The senator wrote on social media on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or see it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I call on you to battle with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's determination was the chance of the former president's move to foreign missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a record of organizing to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.
The court filing underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, Brasilia, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative US President Trump, causing him to implement a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods.
He is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will experience a imprisonment assessment on the next day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with tracking devices.
They also asked that the former president be permitted to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he required ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other ailments.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was found guilty of heading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a plot which encompassed plans to assassinate Lula and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing the former president's case.
The scheme was stopped because it couldn't obtain the backing of the military leaders. The current president was sworn in without issue on January 1st, 2023.
But a seven days after, on 8 January, thousands of his followers attacked and damaged government buildings in the national capital, Brazil's capital.
The police intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been incited by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also barred from seeking elected position until 2060 - eight years later after the completion of his term.
The ex-leader called the trial a targeted investigation" and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the 2026 presidential election.
