Brazil’s federal police said on Wednesday that they had evidence former President Jair Bolsonaro was seeking to flee to Argentina and request political asylum.
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Investigators said in a 170-page report that Bolsonaro had drafted a request for political asylum from Argentine President Javier Milei’s government dated February 10, 2024.
Regarding the evidence investigators say they have, Bolsonaro claimed he was being politically persecuted in Brazil in a 33-page letter addressed to Milei, found on his seized cell phone.
“I, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, request political asylum from Your Excellency in the Republic of Argentina, under an urgent regime, as I find myself in a situation of political persecution in Brazil and fear for my life,” the AP news agency quoted from the document it reviewed and which had been sent to Brazil’s Supreme Court.
AP reported that the former president saved the document two days after authorities conducted a search of his home and office as part of an investigation into an alleged coup plot.
The Argentine government has not yet commented.
Police have also called for the former president and his son to be charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly trying to interfere with the trial over plotting an attempted coup.
Police recommended charging the pair with “coercion in the judicial process” and “abolition of the democratic law.”
Earlier this month, Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered that Bolsonaro be placed under house arrest.
The former president is standing trial for allegedly leading a coup attempt after losing the 2022 election to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Last month, the same court ordered that Bolsonaro wear an electronic ankle monitor and imposed a curfew on his activities for the duration of the trial.
The far-right leader has also been barred from using social media after being accused of trying to disrupt the trial with fiery speeches shared online by his sons and allies.
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