The former Brazilian leader has been arrested after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.
The ex-president was convicted of planning a government overthrow in last fall and given more than 27 years in incarceration, but he continued under home detention pending appeals.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a safety action after "new facts" were revealed.
This involved seeking to disable his tracking device and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could enable a potential flight.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks
In a document approving the detention, the judge said intelligence from the unit overseeing his home detention suggested the former leader's aim to disable the surveillance device to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the gathering called by his son.
His child, Flávio, who works as a legislator, called for a assembly of his followers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on social media on last Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your settee? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the judge's ruling was the chance of the former president's move to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a background of arranging to ask for protection through a consular facility", a announcement said.
The legal document underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, Brasilia, is situated around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative American leader President Trump, leading him to impose a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
He is being kept in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that the former president be authorized to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he needed ongoing care for lung conditions and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was determined responsible of leading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a scheme which involved plans to assassinate 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 presiding over the former president's case.
The scheme was stopped because it couldn't obtain the backing of the armed forces officials. His successor was sworn in without issue on 1 January 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, many Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised official structures in the national capital, Brazil's capital.
The security forces stepped in and around 1,500 people were detained.
The justices found that the protesters had been provoked by him whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to take action, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also barred from campaigning for office until the year 2060 - eight years later after the end of his sentence.
The ex-leader called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 presidential election.
