The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.
The ex-president was sentenced of orchestrating a military coup in September and sentenced more than over two decades in jail, but he remained under home detention pending legal challenges.
High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a preventative measure after recent developments were revealed.
This encompassed trying to remove his tracking device and a call for a demonstration that could facilitate a potential flight.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the detention, Justice Moraes said information from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his son.
His offspring, his son Flávio, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.
The senator wrote on digital networks on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or observe everything from your phone there on your settee? I call on you to battle with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could offer prayers for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's determination was the chance of his move to foreign missions near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of planning to seek refuge through a embassy office", a declaration said.
The court filing underscores that the US embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist United States President President Trump, prompting him to impose a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
The former president is being held in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will undergo a custody hearing on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the High Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that Bolsonaro be allowed to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he required frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other ailments.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was determined responsible of heading a conspiracy aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the national vote to his left-wing rival, President Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he was aware of a scheme which included plans to murder Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.
The scheme was prevented because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. The current president was inaugurated without problem on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on January 8th, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged public facilities in the national capital, Brazil's capital.
The law enforcement took action and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been incited by him whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, bring back stability and bring him back to power.
At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also prohibited from running for public office until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The ex-leader called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 presidential election.
