The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under home confinement.
The former head of state was found guilty of planning a government overthrow in last fall and given more than 27 years in prison, but he was staying under home detention pending court reviews.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a precautionary step after recent developments were revealed.
This involved seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a call for a public vigil that could facilitate a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears
In a paperwork permitting the custody, the magistrate said intelligence from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the former leader's "intention to break the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his son.
His child, Flávio, who works as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on online platforms on the previous day: Will you battle for your country, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your couch? I invite you to battle with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the chance of his "relocation to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a history of arranging to seek refuge through a embassy office", a announcement said.
The legal document highlights that the United States embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist US President Trump, leading him to enact a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
Bolsonaro is being detained in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will have a custody hearing on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that he be permitted to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he needed frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Background on Conviction
He was convicted of orchestrating a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a plot which encompassed plans to assassinate Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The scheme was prevented because it didn't receive the endorsement of the armed forces officials. His successor was inaugurated without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, numerous his backers stormed and vandalised public facilities in the capital, Brasília.
The law enforcement took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The judges found that the protesters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to take action, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the time, the legal team called the over 27-year sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from running for public office until twenty-sixty - eight 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 next presidential race.
