The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a definite escape threat while under home confinement.
The one-time leader was sentenced of plotting a government overthrow in September and sentenced more than over two decades in prison, but he continued under house arrest pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after recent developments were revealed.
This included trying to remove his tracking device and a call for a public vigil that could enable a chance to flee".
Court Filing Details Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the custody, Justice Moraes said data from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the former leader's plan to remove the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the protest called by his son.
His child, his son Flávio, who works as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his followers near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on online platforms on Friday: Will you battle for your homeland, or see it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so followers could "pray for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the potential of his "relocation to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of organizing to request asylum through a consular facility", a declaration said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the US embassy in the national capital, Brasilia, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.
Worldwide Consequences
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative United States President Trump, prompting him to enact a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.
The former president is being held in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will have a detention review on the following day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the High Court to permit him to complete his entire prison term under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also asked that the former president be allowed to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he needed regular treatment for lung conditions and other ailments.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was found guilty of leading a scheme aimed at retaining his authority 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 plot which included plans to kill the current president and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been overseeing his judicial proceedings.
The plot was stopped because it couldn't obtain the backing of the armed forces officials. Lula was inaugurated without incident on 1 January 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, many Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised public facilities in the capital, Brasília.
The law enforcement stepped in and around approximately 1,500 persons were taken into custody.
The justices found that the rioters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the moment, the legal team called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.
He was also barred from seeking elected position until 2060 - eight years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The ex-leader called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him running in the next presidential race.
