Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.
The ex-president was sentenced of orchestrating a armed takeover in September and handed more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he remained under home detention pending appeals.
Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after fresh information emerged.
This involved trying to remove his ankle monitor and a summons to a public vigil that could enable a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a document approving the arrest, Justice Moraes said information from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his flight.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His offspring, his son Flávio, who works as a senator, called for a assembly of his supporters near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
His son wrote on digital networks on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or see it all from your smartphone there on your sofa? I urge you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so backers could offer prayers for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the magistrate's determination was the possibility of the former president's move to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a history of organizing to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.
The legal document emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, Brasilia, is positioned around 13km from the former president's residence.
Worldwide Consequences
His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow conservative nationalist United States President Donald Trump, prompting him to impose a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.
He is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a custody hearing on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the Supreme Court to permit him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that he be allowed to exit his dwelling for medical treatment, saying he required regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
He was convicted of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a plot which included plans to assassinate the current president and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The plot was stopped because it failed to get the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. His successor was sworn in without problem on January 1st, 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters attacked and damaged government buildings in the national capital, Brazil's capital.
The security forces took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been encouraged by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to take action, bring back stability and return him to office.
At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also barred from campaigning for office until the year 2060 - eight years after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the trial a targeted investigation" and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 presidential election.
