The former Brazilian president taken into custody after being declared a flight risk
Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.
The former head of state was convicted of plotting a military coup in September and sentenced more than 27 years in incarceration, but he continued under house arrest pending appeals.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after "new facts" emerged.
This encompassed attempting to break his electronic bracelet and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, the judge said data from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his getaway".
This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the protest called by his son.
His offspring, Flávio, who holds office as a senator, called for a meeting of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.
His son wrote on digital networks on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or watch it all from your phone there on your settee? I urge you to fight with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could "pray for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the chance of Bolsonaro's "relocation to embassies near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a history of arranging to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.
The court filing emphasizes that the United States embassy in the capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.
International Reactions
His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative US President Donald Trump, causing him to enact a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
He is being held in a national police facility in the capital and will have a custody hearing on the next day.
Recent Legal Requests
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 home confinement, with tracking devices.
They also asked that the former president be permitted to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he needed ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other health problems.
Background on Conviction
Bolsonaro was found guilty of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he knew of a plot which encompassed plans to assassinate his opponent and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The plot was stopped because it didn't receive the backing of the army and air force commanders. The current president was inaugurated without incident on the first day of 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised official structures in the capital, the capital city.
The police took action and around 1,500 people were arrested.
The judges found that the demonstrators had been incited by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, restore order and reinstate his authority.
At the time, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him participating in the 2026 presidential election.