Once we first watched the surveillance footage, we had been shocked.
The Hungarian ambassador to Brazil walked nervously contained in the embassy. There was Jair Bolsonaro, the previous Brazilian president — who had simply acquired a court docket order to not depart the nation as a result of enhanced criminal investigation — arrival on the gate. There have been the embassy employees dashing to the visitor rooms with linens and occasional makers.
After which, for 2 days, there was Mr. Bolsonaro loitering within the parking zone, trying bored, and there have been his safety guards bringing pizza.
Given the circumstances – a politician dealing with potential jail time, sleeping in a international embassy managed by a political ally – he had all of the hallmarks of somebody looking for political asylum. Overseas embassies will be thought-about sovereign territory and have traditionally been used as refuges for folks escaping from custody.
My colleagues and I revealed an article saying this, full with clippings from the footage.
In response, Mr Bolsonaro’s legal professionals issued a press release saying he had merely gone to the embassy to speak politics. Every other suggestion, they stated, is “fake news.”
Alexander de Moraes, President of the Brazilian Supreme Court docket growing criminal investigations within the former president, later determined that Mr. Bolsonaro has not broken the law by sleeping within the embassy.
So after I sat down with Mr. Bolsonaro for an interview this weekI could not wait to lastly ask him why—in the midst of the Brazilian carnival, 4 days after the police had confiscated his passport—he determined to sleep within the tiny visitor room of the Hungarian embassy.
Right here is an excerpt of our trade, translated from Portuguese and edited for readability.
Why did you sleep two nights within the Hungarian embassy?
Look, it is about time zones I used to be speaking to. And that is remaining.
However you slept there two nights?
sure
is that this regular
I’ll determine that.
Haven’t got a mattress in Brazil? (Brasilia is the capital of Brazil.)
I do it. I might argue with my spouse. I am not saying. Similar to after I discuss to the authorities, I do not say I did it. Nothing leaks from me. Zero.
Have you ever slept in one other embassy?
who is aware of I’m pals with Israel. I get together with the international locations of the Arab world. I will not say what I do as a result of it offers them a story to chase. I’m a free citizen.
The group of Alexander de Moraes he needed to arrest me as a result of I went with no passport. You don’t want a passport to enter an embassy.
You’re a non-public citizen. You might be additionally a former president who speaks in regards to the significance of fact. So it is pure to need to know why you slept in a international embassy 4 days after the authorities searched your property.
They might have arrested me in the course of the search in the event that they needed. All I do is attempt to disguise from them. Was it a refuge? Shelter? With asylum, you deal immediately with the president.
Was it an asylum software? It appears unusual to sleep in an embassy.
Is not it unusual that they’re chasing me? All I can say is the opposite facet can persecute me. I met with [President Viktor Orban of Hungary] in Argentina at [President Javier] Miley’s discovery. I get alongside nicely with him.
What I did was not a criminal offense. If there was a criminal offense, they’d arrest me.
[The embassy’s surveillance footage also showed a person visit Mr. Bolsonaro for 38 minutes. A Brazilian news outlet later reported it was his son, Carlos. Carlos was in the room with us.]
Carlos, you visited your father, did not you? what occurred
Carlos Bolsonaro: I simply talked to my dad about…
[Lawyer in the room interrupts to request to talk off the record.]
Jair Bolsonaro: Do you suppose I might have bother leaving Brazil proper now? No passport? Aren’t a ton of unlawful immigrants going to the US? I’m a military captain. I received used to the difficulties there.
okay Then why had been you on the embassy?
who is aware of possibly i’ve a lover there.
I am not attempting to be tough, however I care in regards to the fact and also you say you do too. So I simply need to know.
It is a secret. Possibly someday you’ll perceive.
