Police declare Brazil’s ex-President Jair Bolsonaro wrote letter in search of asylum in Argentina as coup investigation ramped up in 2024.
Brazil’s federal police stated that messages discovered on the cell phone of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro confirmed he as soon as wished to flee to Argentina and request political asylum from Argentinian President Javier Milei.
The police stated in a report launched on Wednesday that the letter in search of asylum was saved on Bolsonaro’s cell phone in February 2024, simply days after the previous president’s passport was seized amid an investigation of his involvement in an alleged coup plot.
It was unclear whether or not the asylum request was despatched, and the Argentinian president’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The asylum request doc revealed on Wednesday was a part of the ultimate police report that formally accused Bolsonaro and his United States-based son, Eduardo, of working to intrude within the ongoing authorized course of associated to the ex-president’s forthcoming trial for allegedly plotting a coup.
Bolsonaro’s trial is anticipated to begin on September 2, during which he faces as much as 40 years in jail if convicted of plotting to overthrow his democratically elected successor as president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in 2022.
Police have now beneficial that the ex-president and his son be charged with “coercion within the judicial course of” and “abolition of the democratic regulation” associated to interference within the coup case. The mixed sentence for the 2 offences might attain as much as 12 years in jail.
Brazilian information outlet O Dia stated on Wednesday that recordings had been additionally discovered on a tool seized through the police investigation of Bolsonaro, which indicated “makes an attempt to intimidate authorities and impede the progress of the investigations associated to the inquiry into the assault on democracy, together with makes an attempt to make use of exterior affect”.
Bolsonaro – who has been underneath home arrest since early August – has maintained his innocence within the coup trial, which US President Donald Trump, an ally, has referred to as a “witch-hunt”.
Bolsonaro’s son, Eduardo, stepped down from his place as a Brazilian congressman in March and moved to the US, the place he’s campaigning for the Trump administration to intercede on his father’s behalf.
These lobbying efforts have been profitable, with the Trump administration taking punitive motion in opposition to Brazil over the case, together with sanctions in opposition to court docket officers.
Trump has additionally imposed an enormous 50 p.c tariff on many Brazilian exports to the US, citing Bolsonaro’s trial.
