Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.
The former head of state was found guilty of orchestrating a military coup in September and given more than over two decades in prison, but he was staying under house arrest pending appeals.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a safety action after recent developments came to light.
This involved trying to remove his tracking device and a call for a public vigil that could facilitate a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears
In a document approving the arrest, the judge said intelligence from the unit overseeing his home detention suggested the former leader's "intention to break the surveillance device to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the protest called by his offspring.
His son, Flávio, who holds office as a legislator, called for a meeting of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.
His son wrote on social media on the previous day: Will you battle for your homeland, or observe everything from your phone there on your couch? I urge you to battle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could offer prayers for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the judge's ruling was the possibility of the former president's move to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of planning to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.
The court filing highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, Brazil's capital, is positioned around 8 miles from his dwelling.
International Reactions
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist American leader President Trump, causing him to impose a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods.
The former president is being held in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will have a detention review on the next day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that the former president be allowed to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he required regular treatment for lung conditions and other illnesses.
Background on Conviction
Bolsonaro was found guilty of heading a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the presidential race to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a plan which encompassed plans to murder Lula and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The plot was stopped because it failed to get the support of the army and air force commanders. The current president was inaugurated without issue on January 1st, 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, numerous his followers invaded and destroyed government buildings in the capital, Brazil's capital.
The security forces intervened and around 1,500 people were arrested.
The magistrates found that the protesters had been provoked by him whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the moment, the legal team called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.
He was also barred from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the trial a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the 2026 presidential election.
