Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was sentenced of planning a government overthrow in last fall and sentenced more than 27 years in jail, but he was staying under confinement pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after recent developments emerged.
This involved attempting to break his tracking device and a summons to a demonstration that could "allow for a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the arrest, Justice Moraes said information from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to secure accomplishment in his escape.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
His offspring, his son Flávio, who serves as a legislator, called for a meeting of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on social media on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your country, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your couch? I call on you to battle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so backers could "pray for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the potential of Bolsonaro's "relocation to embassies near the home, considering that the probes revealed a history of planning to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork highlights that the US embassy in the capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from his dwelling.
Worldwide Consequences
His judicial problems have generated frustration from fellow conservative nationalist US President President Trump, causing him to enact a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods.
He is being held in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will have a detention review on Sunday.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with tracking devices.
They also petitioned that he be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical care, saying he demanded regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was convicted of heading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the presidential race to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Top judicial officials said that he was aware of a plan which included plans to kill Lula and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing the former president's case.
The conspiracy was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the backing of the military leaders. Lula was sworn in without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a seven days after, on 8 January, many his backers attacked and damaged official structures in the federal district, Brasília.
The law enforcement took action and around 1,500 people were arrested.
The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been provoked by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to take action, restore order and reinstate his authority.
At the time, the legal team called the over 27-year sentence extremely harsh.
He was also prohibited from running for public office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the legal proceedings a targeted investigation" and said it was intended to stop him competing in the next presidential race.
