RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro said Saturday he is the victim of political persecution as he accompanied his wife to the airport in Brasilia to board a flight to next week’s inauguration to attend the new American President Donald Trump.
Brazil’s Supreme Court on Thursday rejected Bolsonaro’s request to temporarily reinstate his passport so he could travel to the inauguration, ruling that Bolsonaro does not currently hold a position that would allow him to represent Brazil at the event.
Judge Alexandre de Moraes also said in the ruling that the far-right leader had not sufficiently proven to the court that he had been invited.
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Bolsonaro told journalists at the airport that he is “upset” and “still shocked” by the decision.
“Of course it would have been very good for me to go. President Trump would have really liked it,” Bolsonaro said. “But I am facing enormous political persecution from one person,” he added, referring to de Moraes.
About twenty supporters of the former president were at the airport where Michelle Bolsonaro boarded her flight to the US
“My husband is persecuted, but those whom God sends will be persecuted, we know that,” she told reporters before kissing her husband and passing through the gate.
Bolsonaro is an outspoken admirer of Trump. Like him, the former Brazilian president also sowed doubt about his country’s electoral system and refused to budge.
Bolsonaro was seized by federal police last February, during several extensive investigations, including an attempt to remain in office despite his 2022 election defeat, because he was considered a flight risk. He denies the allegations against him.
Bolsonaro had requested permission to leave the country from January 17 to 22 to attend Trump’s inauguration ceremony on Monday and a Spanish inaugural ball.
When De Moraes asked Bolsonaro’s lawyers for proof of his invitation on Saturday, they forwarded an invitation letter signed by inauguration committee co-chairs Steve Witkoff and Kelly Loeffler.
Still, De Moraes argued that Bolsonaro had not sufficiently proven that he had been invited to the inauguration. In the ruling, De Moraes followed the recommendation of Attorney General Paulo Gonet, who said on Wednesday that Bolsonaro’s private interest in the trip does not outweigh the public interest in banning him from traveling abroad.
De Moraes said Bolsonaro remains a flight risk, adding that the former president has advocated that his supporters, who face legal challenges in cases involving their political allegiance, should leave the country and seek asylum. Hundreds of Bolsonaro supporters involved in the January 8, 2023 riots in Brasilia have left Brazil to avoid prosecution.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was not officially invited, will not attend Trump’s inauguration. Brazilian Ambassador to the US Maria Luiza Viotti will be present.
Trump has invited several world leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Argentine President Javier Milei.