Brazil judge orders round-the-clock surveillance of ‘flight risk’ Bolsonaro

Pre-trial monitoring ordered after police reported former president had drafted request for asylum in Argentina

Jair Bolsonaro must be under constant police surveillance, a supreme court justice has ruled, to prevent Brazil’s former president from fleeing days before the start of the trial that could see him jailed for more than 40 years.

The far-right leader has been wearing an electronic ankle tag since mid-July and has been under house arrest since early August. But last Monday, the prosecutor general asked the supreme court to tighten surveillance of the 70-year-old, after federal police reported he had even drafted a request for political asylum in Argentina.