Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.
The one-time leader was found guilty of plotting a armed takeover in September and handed more than 27 years in incarceration, but he continued under house arrest pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" came to light.
This involved trying to remove his tracking device and a call for a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Concerns
In a document approving the custody, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the tracking monitor to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the gathering called by his child.
His offspring, his son Flávio, who holds office as a senator, called for a meeting of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.
The senator wrote on social media on Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I invite you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so followers could offer prayers for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the chance of his transfer to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of planning to request asylum through a consular facility", a announcement said.
The court filing highlights that the United States embassy in the capital, the capital city, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
Worldwide Consequences
His judicial problems have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist American leader Donald Trump, causing him to implement a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
The former president is being held in a Federal Police station in the capital and will have a detention review on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that Bolsonaro be allowed to leave his home for medical care, saying he needed ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Background on Conviction
Bolsonaro was found guilty of orchestrating a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a scheme which encompassed plans to assassinate his opponent and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.
The scheme was stopped because it failed to get the backing of the army and air force commanders. The current president was inaugurated without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on January 8th, many Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised official structures in the national capital, the capital city.
The law enforcement stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also barred from seeking elected position until 2060 - eight years after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the court case a targeted investigation" and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the next presidential race.
