The former Brazilian leader has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.
The former head of state was sentenced of orchestrating a armed takeover in September and given more than over two decades in prison, but he was staying under home detention pending court reviews.
High Court Judge the presiding justice said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a safety action after recent developments emerged.
This encompassed seeking to disable his electronic bracelet and a call for a public vigil that could enable a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the confusion caused by the gathering called by his child.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a legislator, called for a gathering of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.
The senator wrote on digital networks on the previous day: Will you battle for your homeland, or see it all from your phone there on your sofa? I invite you to fight with us."
He said the gathering would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the potential of the former president's transfer to embassies near the home, considering that the probes revealed a record of arranging to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.
The court filing highlights that the US embassy in the national capital, Brasilia, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist US President President Trump, causing him to enact a 50% tariff on imports of Brazilian goods.
He is being detained in a national police facility in Brasilia and will have a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the High Court to permit him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also petitioned that Bolsonaro be permitted to leave his home for healthcare, saying he needed regular treatment for lung conditions and other illnesses.
Context of Sentencing
He was found guilty of leading a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the presidential race to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a plot which involved plans to assassinate Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.
The conspiracy was stopped because it didn't receive the support of the armed forces officials. Lula was sworn in without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, numerous his backers invaded and destroyed official structures in the capital, Brazil's capital.
The law enforcement stepped in and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.
The justices found that the rioters had been encouraged by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, restore order and bring him back to power.
At the period, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from running for public office until the year 2060 - eight years after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him participating in the 2026 presidential election.
