Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was in power from 2019 to 2022, recently spent two nights at the Hungarian embassy in the capital Brasilia. His lawyers confirmed this on Monday, after reports from The New York Times.
According to the American newspaper, which relies on camera images, Bolsonaro stayed in the Hungarian embassy from February 12 to 14. A few days earlier, a large-scale police operation took place in an investigation into an “attempted coup” and the former head of state was banned from leaving the country.
The New York Times writes that Bolsonaro had “hidden” in the embassy because of the federal investigation. However, his lawyers deny that the 69-year-old populist wanted to escape justice and say that he stayed there “for contacts with the authorities of the friendly country”. They emphasize that Bolsonaro has “a good relationship” with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
In June, Bolsonaro was sentenced to eight years of ineligibility for spreading disinformation about his election defeat. Several investigations are underway against the ex-president: he is, among other things, facing a trial for the forgery of vaccination certificates during the corona pandemic.