Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.
The one-time leader was sentenced of planning a military coup in September and given more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he continued under home detention pending court reviews.
High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after recent developments were revealed.
This included seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a call for a public vigil that could "allow for a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the arrest, Justice Moraes said data from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the surveillance device to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his son.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on online platforms on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could "pray for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's decision was the chance of the former president's "relocation to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a background of organizing to ask for protection through a consular facility", a announcement said.
The court filing underscores that the United States embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is situated around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.
International Reactions
His judicial problems have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist United States President Trump, causing him to implement a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
He is being held in a national police facility in the capital and will experience a imprisonment assessment on the following day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the Supreme Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with electronic monitoring.
They also requested that he be permitted to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he required frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.
Context of Sentencing
The former president was determined responsible of leading a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the national vote to his left-wing rival, Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plot which encompassed plans to murder the current president and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.
The plot was prevented because it didn't receive the support of the army and air force commanders. His successor was inaugurated without issue on January 1st, 2023.
But a week later, on 8 January, many his backers invaded and destroyed official structures in the federal district, Brazil's capital.
The security forces intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been provoked by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.
At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence extremely harsh.
He was also barred from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the end of his sentence.
The ex-leader called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the next presidential race.
