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A Brazilian judge today declared far-right ex-President Jair Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest while awaiting the verdict in his coup-plotting trial, a “flight risk” and placed him under round-the-clock watch.

Bolsonaro faces 40 years in prison if convicted of plotting to cling on to power after losing the 2022 elections to left-winger now President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The verdict in the case is expected early next month.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is presiding over the trial, asked the police to carry out “full-time surveillance” of former army captain Bolsonaro, according to a court document seen by AFP.

Moraes was acting on a request from the Brazilian prosecutor’s office.

The prosecutors pointed to recent revelations that Bolsonaro planned to seek asylum in Argentina last year as proof that the 70-year-old could seek to evade a possible lengthy jail term.

In his draft asylum request, the man dubbed the “Trump of the Tropics” during his 2019-2022 presidency claimed he was the victim of political persecution.

Bolsonaro is accused of leading a criminal organisation that aimed to prevent Lula taking power after he narrowly defeated Bolsonaro in October 2022 elections.

The trial has driven a deep wedge between Lula and US President Donald Trump, who has slammed the indictment of his ally Bolsonaro as a “witch hunt” and punished those responsible for putting him in the dock.

Lula announced today that the US had revoked the US visa of his Justice Minister, Ricardo Lewandowski, the latest official to be hit with a US visa ban or asset freeze over the case.

The US State Department had yet to confirm the move.

At a Cabinet meeting, Lula expressed solidarity with the minister and called the visa withdrawal an “irresponsible gesture”.

‘Brazil belongs to Brazilians’

The Trump Administration has also imposed crippling 50% tariffs on dozens of Brazilian imports and sanctioned Moraes, a hate figure on the Brazilian and US right, among other Supreme Court justices.

“These attitudes are unacceptable, not only against the minister but against all Supreme Court justices, against any Brazilian figure,” Lula told the Cabinet meeting.

Lula and several of his ministers wore caps inscribed “Brazil belongs to Brazilians”. Photo / Getty Images

In a sign of protest against what he sees as US meddling in Brazil’s affairs, he and several of his ministers wore caps inscribed “Brazil belongs to Brazilians”.

The US sanctions followed intense lobbying of the Trump Administration by Bolsonaro’s US-based son, Eduardo Bolsonaro.

Lula called the younger Bolsonaro’s campaign of retribution “one of the worst betrayals the country has suffered”.

Bolsonaro claims his trial is an attempt by the Brazilian judiciary, in league with Lula’s Government, to prevent him from making a comeback in 2026 elections.

Before his trial he held out hopes of running, despite being barred from seeking re-election until 2030 for spreading misinformation about Brazil’s electoral system.

-Agence France-Presse