The former Brazilian leader has been detained after authorities found he posed a definite escape threat while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was found guilty of orchestrating a government overthrow in September and sentenced more than over two decades in incarceration, but he continued under home detention pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after fresh information emerged.
This involved attempting to break his tracking device and a invitation to a public vigil that could enable a potential flight.
Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears
In a document approving the detention, the judge said data from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to secure accomplishment in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the protest called by his child.
His son, his son Flávio, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his followers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on online platforms on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your country, or watch it all from your phone there on your settee? I invite you to fight with us."
He said the vigil would be so followers could "pray for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the possibility of Bolsonaro's "relocation to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of planning to request asylum through a embassy office", a declaration said.
The court filing highlights that the US embassy in the federal district, Brasilia, is situated around 13km from his dwelling.
International Reactions
The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist US President Donald Trump, prompting him to impose a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
Bolsonaro is being kept in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will experience a detention review on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also requested that Bolsonaro be allowed to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he required ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was convicted of heading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he knew of a plot which involved plans to assassinate Lula and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing the former president's case.
The plot was thwarted because it didn't receive the backing of the military leaders. His successor was inaugurated without problem on January 1st, 2023.
But a seven days after, on January 8th, thousands of his followers stormed and vandalised official structures in the capital, Brasília.
The law enforcement stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The justices found that the rioters had been incited by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, bring back stability and return him to office.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him competing in the next presidential race.
