The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a definite escape threat while under home confinement.
The one-time leader was convicted of orchestrating a government overthrow in last fall and given more than a 27-year term in jail, but he was staying under confinement pending court reviews.
High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after recent developments emerged.
This included attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a invitation to a supporters' gathering that could enable a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the arrest, the judge said intelligence from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his flight.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
His child, his son Flávio, who works as a senator, called for a meeting of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on last Friday: Will you battle for your homeland, or watch it all from your phone there on your sofa? I urge you to struggle with us."
He said the vigil would be so backers could "pray for his well-being and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the chance of the former president's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a record of organizing to ask for protection through a consular facility", a announcement said.
The court filing highlights that the United States embassy in the national capital, Brasilia, is situated around 13km from his dwelling.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative US President President Trump, leading him to impose a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
The former president is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will have a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that the former president be allowed to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he needed ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other health problems.
Background on Conviction
Bolsonaro was convicted of orchestrating a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plan which included plans to murder the current president and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.
The scheme was thwarted because it failed to get the backing of the army and air force commanders. Lula was sworn in without incident on the first day of 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised government buildings in the capital, Brasília.
The security forces intervened and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.
The judges found that the rioters had been incited by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to take action, restore order and reinstate his authority.
At the time, the legal team called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also barred from campaigning for office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the 2026 national vote.
