The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.
The former head of state was found guilty of planning a armed takeover in September and handed more than over two decades in prison, but he continued under confinement pending appeals.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after recent developments came to light.
This involved seeking to disable his tracking device and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the custody, the magistrate said intelligence from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the tracking monitor to ensure success in his flight.
This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his son.
His child, Flávio, who serves as a legislator, called for a gathering of his followers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on online platforms on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your sofa? I call on you to fight with us."
He said the vigil would be so followers could offer prayers for his health and for the return of democracy in our country."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the judge's determination was the chance of Bolsonaro's "relocation to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a record of organizing to seek refuge through a consular facility", a declaration said.
The legal document highlights that the United States embassy in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative American leader President Trump, leading him to enact a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
The former president is being kept in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a detention review on the following day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to permit him to fulfill his full incarceration period under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also requested that the former president be authorized to leave his home for healthcare, saying he needed ongoing care for lung conditions and other illnesses.
Background on Conviction
Bolsonaro was determined responsible of heading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his political opponent, Lula.
High Court judges said that he was aware of a plot which included plans to kill the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The scheme was stopped because it failed to get the support of the military leaders. Lula was sworn in without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a seven days after, on 8 January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised official structures in the federal district, the capital city.
The law enforcement took action and around approximately 1,500 persons were detained.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to step in, restore order and bring him back to power.
At the time, his attorneys called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also barred from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The ex-leader called the trial a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the 2026 national vote.
