Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under home confinement.
The ex-president was sentenced of planning a military coup in September and given more than over two decades in incarceration, but he continued under confinement pending legal challenges.
High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after recent developments came to light.
This encompassed attempting to break his ankle monitor and a invitation to a supporters' gathering that could enable a chance to flee".
Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the custody, the magistrate said intelligence from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his escape.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a senator, called for a gathering of his supporters near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.
The senator wrote on digital networks on Friday: Will you battle for your country, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I invite you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could "pray for his health and for the return of democracy in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the judge's ruling was the chance of Bolsonaro's transfer to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a background of arranging to ask for protection through a consular facility", a announcement said.
The court filing underscores that the United States embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is located around 13km from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist American leader Donald Trump, causing him to enact a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
Bolsonaro is being kept in a national police facility in the capital and will have a custody hearing on Sunday.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with tracking devices.
They also asked that the former president be authorized to leave his home for healthcare, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was determined responsible of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a plot which encompassed plans to murder Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The scheme was stopped because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the armed forces officials. His successor was took office without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, thousands of his backers invaded and destroyed public facilities in the capital, the capital city.
The police stepped in and around 1,500 people were arrested.
The justices found that the rioters had been provoked by him whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to step in, restore order and reinstate his authority.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The former president called the trial a targeted investigation" and said it was intended to stop him running in the next presidential race.
