{"id":85512,"date":"2025-08-21T06:02:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T06:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/85512\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T06:02:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T06:02:07","slug":"brazil-police-file-court-documents-accusing-bolsonaro-of-planning-to-flee-to-argentina-to-seek-asylum-jair-bolsonaro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/85512\/","title":{"rendered":"Brazil police file court documents accusing Bolsonaro of planning to flee to Argentina to seek asylum | Jair Bolsonaro"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brazilian police have claimed in court documents that they have found a document on the mobile phone of former president Jair Bolsonaro<\/a> suggesting he had planned to flee to Argentina ahead of his judgment for allegedly plotting a military coup.<\/p>\n

The far-right populist is facing a jail term of over 40 years when Brazil\u2019s supreme court convenes next month to decide whether he is guilty of conspiring to overturn the result of the 2022 presidential election, which Bolsonaro lost to his leftwing opponent Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva.<\/p>\n

Bolsonaro denies the charges but some legal and political experts believe the weight of evidence means his conviction and a heavy sentence are virtually guaranteed.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, federal police investigators filed a 170-page report to the supreme court claiming to have found a document that was saved on the ex-president\u2019s phone in February 2024 \u2013 two days after his passport was seized<\/a> as a result of the coup investigation. In the report \u2013 which was reviewed by the Guardian \u2013 police said the document indicated he was planning to seek political asylum in Argentina, which is governed by his far-right ally Javier Milei.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my country of origin I am being persecuted for essentially political reasons and crimes,\u201d Bolsonaro\u2019s alleged draft asylum request claims, describing the former president as \u201ca politically persecuted person\u201d.<\/p>\n

The undated and unsigned letter was addressed to \u201cthe most excellent president of Argentina Javier Gerardo Miliei [sic]\u201d. It claimed Bolsonaro was \u201cfacing imminent arrest\u201d\u200b \u2013 something the asylum request said would be \u201cunjust, illegal, arbitrary and unconstitutional\u201d.<\/p>\n

An Argentine government source told the Reuters news agency that Milei\u2019s office had not received a letter.<\/p>\n

Bolsonaro, who governed Brazil from 2019 until the end of 2022, insists he hopes to challenge Lula in next year\u2019s presidential election, despite having already been barred from running by the supreme court for spreading disinformation. He is currently living under house arrest in the capital, Bras\u00edlia, after the supreme court found he had violated a court order forbidding him from using social media.<\/p>\n

In their report to the supreme court, federal police alleged the letter indicated that Bolsonaro had \u201cplanned to flee the country, in order to prevent the law being enforced\u201d.<\/p>\n

The accusation that Bolsonaro had planned to flee Brazil for Argentina came as federal police formally accused the ex-president and his congressman son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, of trying to interfere in Bolsonaro\u2019s upcoming judgment by encouraging US officials to pressure the supreme court. A formal accusation is a prelude to charges being brought. The judgement is due to start on 2 September and end on 12 September.<\/p>\n

Eduardo Bolsonaro moved to the US in February and has spent recent months lobbying Donald Trump\u2019s administration <\/a>\u2013 with some success \u2013 to pile pressure on Brazil\u2019s supreme court justices and President Lula\u2019s government over his father\u2019s trial.<\/p>\n

In July Trump slapped 50% tariffs on Brazilian imports<\/a> in retaliation for what he called a \u201cwitch-hunt\u201d against Bolsonaro and announced sanctions against Alexandre de Moraes, the supreme court judge presiding over Bolsonaro\u2019s trial.<\/p>\n

Eight of Brazil\u2019s 11 supreme court judges, including Moraes, have been stripped of their US visas, as have the wife and 10-year-old daughter of one of Lula\u2019s closest allies, the health minister Alexandre Padilha.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really a political execution that they\u2019re trying to do with Bolsonaro. I think that\u2019s terrible,\u201d Trump told reporters last week.<\/p>\n

In other developments on a dramatic day for Brazilian politics, Silas Malafaia, a powerful and wealthy evangelical pastor who is one of Bolsonaro\u2019s most vocal cheerleaders, was questioned by police after flying back from Portugal to Rio.<\/p>\n

Malafaia, who is also being investigated by federal police over suspicions he too tried to influence the outcome of Bolsonaro\u2019s trial, has now been banned from leaving the country, communicating with Bolsonaro and his son Eduardo and ordered to surrender his passports.<\/p>\n

The police report to the supreme court also exposed the foul-mouthed infighting that appears to be playing out between members of the Bolsonaro clan and key supporters in the lead-up to the conclusion of the ex-president\u2019s judgment.<\/p>\n

In one WhatsApp exchange found on Jair Bolsonaro\u2019s phone \u2013 which was seized as part of federal police investigations \u2013 Eduardo Bolsonaro reacts to an interview in which his father criticized him, writing in all capitals: \u201cGo and fuck yourself you fucking ingrate!\u201d<\/p>\n

In another message, from Malafaia to Jair Bolsonaro, the firebrand church leader attacks Eduardo Bolsonaro for publicly celebrating Trump\u2019s tariffs on Brazilian imports. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, president. This son of yours Eduardo is an inexperienced prick who is handing the nationalist discourse to Lula and the left … a complete idiot. I\u2019m fuming!\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement, Eduardo Bolsonaro criticised the police for \u201cleaking private, absolutely normal conversations\u201d. He called the move \u201cshameful\u201d and politically motivated.<\/p>\n

Polls suggest Lula has received a boost in the polls after Trump\u2019s attempts to pressure Brazil\u2019s institutions, with more than 70% of Brazilians opposed to the US president\u2019s actions and only 21% supporting them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brazilian police have claimed in court documents that they have found a document on the mobile phone of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-85512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}