Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under domestic detention.
The former head of state was convicted of orchestrating a armed takeover in September and handed more than over two decades in jail, but he remained under confinement pending appeals.
High Court Judge the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after "new facts" were revealed.
This encompassed seeking to disable his tracking device and a invitation to a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Escape Risks
In a document approving the arrest, the magistrate said information from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the former leader's "intention to break the surveillance device to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His child, his son Flávio, who serves as a senator, called for a assembly of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or see it all from your phone there on your sofa? I invite you to fight with us."
He said the vigil would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the potential of his transfer to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of organizing to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.
The court filing emphasizes that the United States embassy in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is located around 13km from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist American leader President Trump, leading him to implement a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
He is being held in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will undergo a custody hearing on the following day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to permit him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with tracking devices.
They also requested that he be authorized to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he required ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was convicted of leading a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the 2022 election to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a scheme which encompassed plans to assassinate Lula and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.
The plot was prevented because it didn't receive the support of the army and air force commanders. The current president was sworn in without issue on 1 January 2023.
But a week later, on 8 January, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed public facilities in the federal district, the capital city.
The law enforcement stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The justices found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by him whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the moment, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The former president called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him participating in the next presidential race.
