The former Brazilian leader has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under domestic detention.
The former head of state was found guilty of planning a government overthrow in the ninth month and given more than 27 years in incarceration, but he remained under home detention pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after fresh information were revealed.
This encompassed seeking to disable his tracking device and a call for a demonstration that could "allow for a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the arrest, the judge said information from the unit overseeing his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
His child, his son Flávio, who works as a senator, called for a assembly of his followers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on digital networks on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your sofa? I call on 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 nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the potential of Bolsonaro's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a history of arranging to request asylum through a consular facility", a announcement said.
The court filing underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, the capital city, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist US President Trump, prompting him to impose a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports.
The former president is being detained in a Federal Police station in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a custody hearing on the next day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also asked that the former president be allowed to depart his residence for medical care, saying he required regular treatment for lung conditions and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
He was determined responsible of leading a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the 2022 election to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he knew of a plot which included plans to murder Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.
The conspiracy was stopped because it didn't receive the endorsement of the military leaders. His successor was inaugurated without incident on the first day of 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed government buildings in the national capital, Brazil's capital.
The law enforcement took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.
The judges found that the demonstrators had been incited by him whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, bring back stability and return him to office.
At the time, the legal team called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.
He was also banned from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The ex-leader called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him competing in the 2026 national vote.
