Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The former head of state was found guilty of planning a military coup in September and given more than 27 years in jail, but he remained under house arrest pending legal challenges.
High Court Judge the presiding justice said the move to detain the elderly politician was a precautionary step after fresh information were revealed.
This included seeking to disable his tracking device and a call for a public vigil that could "allow for a chance to flee".
Court Filing Details Flight Fears
In a document approving the detention, Justice Moraes said data from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the tracking monitor to guarantee victory in his flight.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.
The senator wrote on digital networks on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your country, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could "pray for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the chance of the former president's move to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a history of arranging to ask for protection through a consular facility", a statement said.
The court filing underscores that the United States embassy in the federal district, Brazil's capital, is situated around 13km from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist US President Trump, causing him to enact a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods.
The former president is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will have a custody hearing on the following day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to permit him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with electronic monitoring.
They also asked that the former president be allowed to leave his home for medical care, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Context of Sentencing
He was found guilty of orchestrating a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a plot which included plans to murder Lula and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The scheme was thwarted because it failed to get the support of the army and air force commanders. The current president was took office without issue on January 1st, 2023.
But a seven days after, on January 8th, numerous his backers invaded and destroyed public facilities in the capital, Brasília.
The police took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The judges found that the protesters had been incited by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence extremely harsh.
He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - 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 running in the 2026 presidential election.
