Bolsonaro tells the Supreme Court that it would be ‘illogical’ to ask the ambassador for asylum

Former President Jair Bolsonaro told Minister Alexandre de Moraes of the Federal Supreme Court this Wednesday (27/3) that it would be “illogical” to suggest that he would request political asylum during the period he was staying at the Hungarian Embassy, in Brasília, last month.

The statement was sent to the Supreme Court after the minister gave Bolsonaro 48 hours to explain his stay.

On Monday (25/3), the newspaper The New York Times published that the former president stayed at the embassy between the 12th and 14th of February this year.

Days earlier, Bolsonaro had his passport seized by order of Alexandre after being searched and seized by the Federal Police, in the investigation investigating the attempted coup d’état in the country following the results of the 2022 elections.

Inviolable area

According to international rules, the embassy area is inviolable by Brazilian authorities. In this way, Bolsonaro would be immune from the possible execution of an arrest warrant.

In the petition, the former president’s defense says it is “illogical” to consider that he would request political asylum at the embassy. According to the defense, Bolsonaro was not worried about possible arrest.

“Given the absence of concern about preventive detention, it is illogical to suggest that the petitioner’s visit to the embassy of a foreign country was a request for asylum or an attempt to escape. The very imposition of recent precautionary measures made this assumption highly unlikely and unfounded.”

The lawyers also stated that the former president always maintained dialogue with the Hungarian authorities and rejected any conclusions about a possible request for diplomatic asylum.

“Any conclusions arising from the article published by the North American newspaper, in the sense that the former president was interested in some kind of diplomatic asylum, are, therefore, mistaken, a conclusion that can be reached simply by considering the posture and attitude he always maintained in in relation to the investigations directed at him”, added the defense.

Bolsonaro is an ally of the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, who attended the former president’s inauguration in 2018. In 2022, Bolsonaro visited Budapest, the Hungarian capital, and was received by Orbán. Furthermore, both exchange constant public praise

accommodation

The American newspaper analyzed images from the site’s security cameras and satellite images, which show that Bolsonaro arrived at the embassy on the 12th in the afternoon and left on the afternoon of the 14th.

The images show that the embassy was practically empty, except for some Hungarian diplomats who live there. According to the newspaper, the employees were on vacation and Bolsonaro’s stay took place during the Carnival holiday.

According to the newspaper, on the 14th, Hungarian diplomats contacted Brazilian employees, who were expected to return to work the following day, advising them to stay at home for the rest of the week. With information from Agência Brasil.