SAO PAULO, Aug 27, (Xinhua): Brazil's Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered a round-the-clock monitoring of former president Jair Bolsonaro for fear that he could attempt to flee house arrest ahead of a verdict in his coup attempt trial. Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is overseeing the case, granted a request from federal prosecutors after warning that Bolsonaro could seek refuge in a foreign embassy.

Bolsonaro is currently confined to his residence in national capital Brasilia. Moraes said the actions by Bolsonaro's son, lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro, who is in the United States lobbying against the trial and pressing for an amnesty in Congress, "demonstrate the possibility of Jair Messias Bolsonaro fleeing to evade the application of criminal law."

Final hearings in the case are scheduled for Sept. 2, with Bolsonaro and 35 co-defendants, including former officials and military officers, facing judgment for their roles in the alleged coup attempt following Bolsonaro's defeat in Brazil's 2022 presidential election.