On February 8, Brazil's federal police
confiscated former President Jair Bolsonaro's passport
and arrested a pair of his former aides on accusations that they had planned a coup after Bolsonaro lost the 2022 presidential election.
Four days later, Bolsonaro was at the entrance to the Hungarian embassy in Brazil, waiting to be let in, according to images from the embassy's security camera, obtained by The New York Times.
Footage shows that the former president remained at the embassy for the next two days, accompanied by two security guards and attended to by the Hungarian ambassador and members of staff.
Bolsonaro, the subject of several criminal investigations, cannot be arrested at a foreign embassy that welcomes him, because they are legally beyond the reach of national authorities.
The stay at the embassy suggests that the former president was seeking to take advantage of his friendship with another far-right leader, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in an attempt to evade the Brazilian justice system while facing criminal investigations in his country.
The Times analyzed three days of footage from four cameras at the Hungarian embassy that show Bolsonaro arrived late on February 12 and left on the afternoon of February 14.
In between, he remained mostly out of sight.
The Times verified the images by comparing them with images from the embassy, including satellite images that showed the car in which Bolsonaro arrived parked in the driveway on February 13.
A Hungarian embassy official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters, confirmed the plan to receive Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro's lawyer declined to comment.
The Hungarian embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bolsonaro and Orban have had a close relationship for years, finding common ground as two of the most right-wing leaders in democratic nations.
Bolsonaro called Orban his “brother” during a visit to Hungary in 2022. Later that year, Hungary's foreign minister asked an official in Bolsonaro's administration if Hungary could do anything to help re-elect Bolsonaro,
according to the summary of his comments from the Brazilian government.
In December, Bolsonaro and Orban met in Buenos Aires at the inauguration of Argentina's new right-wing president, Javier Milei.
There, Orban called Bolsonaro a “hero.”
Bolsonaro faces deepening criminal investigations in Brazil.
In the 15 months since he left office, his home was searched, his cell phone and passport confiscated, and several of his allies and former collaborators were arrested.
The cases targeting Bolsonaro involve a variety of allegations, including that he participated in plots to sell jewelry he received as a state gift while president and falsified his COVID-19 vaccination records so he could travel to the United States.
Brazil's federal police last week recommended criminal charges against the former president in the fake COVID vaccine cards case, but prosecutors have not yet commented.
In the most serious allegations, police have said Bolsonaro conspired with several of his top ministers and aides to try to stay in power after his election defeat.
Police arrested some of his top allies on February 8 and raided the homes of others.
Hours later, Orban posted a message of encouragement to Bolsonaro, calling him “an honest patriot” and telling him to “keep fighting.”
On February 12, four days later, Bolsonaro posted a video online calling on his followers to a rally in Sao Paulo that month.
“I want to defend myself against all these accusations,” he stated in the video.
“Until then, God willing.”
That same day he went to the Hungarian embassy.
The images
Moments before his arrival, security footage shows Miklós Halmai, the country's ambassador to Brazil, pacing and typing on his phone.
The small embassy was practically empty, except for a handful of Hungarian diplomats who live there.
The local staff members were on vacation, because Bolsonaro's stay came amid Brazil's national Carnival celebrations.
At 9:34 p.m., a black car appeared at the door of the embassy.
A man came out and finally clapped his hands to get the attention of someone inside.
Three minutes later, Halmai opened the door and indicated where to park.
Bolsonaro and two men who appeared to be security guards exited the vehicle.
Halmai led them inside.
After chatting briefly, the four men boarded an elevator.
Over the next two hours, embassy staff made several trips to an area of the building where there were two guest apartments, according to the footage and the embassy official.
They brought bedding, water and other belongings, until the activity ceased at 11:40 p.m.
The next day, at 7:26 a.m., Halmai left the residential area and wrote on her phone.
Half an hour later, the ambassador and another man brought a coffee pot to the residential area.
For the rest of the day, Hungarian staff wandered around the embassy grounds, including parents with a child.
In the early afternoon, Bolsonaro walked through the embassy parking lot with one of his security guards.
On two occasions Bolsonaro's security guards left.
Around lunch, a guard returned with what appeared to be a pizza.
At 8:38 p.m., a guard returned to the embassy parking lot with another man in the back seat.
With a bag, that man entered the residential area where Bolsonaro appeared to be staying.
The man left 38 minutes later.
As the car left, a man resembling Bolsonaro came out of the residential area to watch.
On February 14, Hungarian diplomats contacted local Brazilian staff, who were due to return to work the next day, and told them to stay home for the rest of the week, according to the embassy official.
They did not explain why, the official said.
That day, Bolsonaro first appears on security camera footage at 4:14 p.m., when he and his two guards left the residential area with two backpacks and headed straight to his car.
Halmai was behind.
The ambassador watched the car drive away and waved goodbye.
Speculations
The specter of a prison sentence for Bolsonaro has sparked widespread speculation that he might try to flee justice.
Two of his children applied for Italian passports, prompting the country's foreign minister to publicly deny that Bolsonaro, of Italian descent, had also applied for citizenship.
The night before leaving office, Bolsonaro flew to Florida and stayed there for three months.
One of his most prominent supporters, a far-right pundit named Allan dos Santos, has been able to avoid arrest in Brazil on charges of threatening federal judges while seeking political asylum in the United States.
Two weeks after Bolsonaro left the embassy (it is unclear why he left), he held the planned rally in Sao Paulo.
Independent observers estimated that 185,000 followers attended.
At the rally, Bolsonaro reiterated his defense that he is a victim of political persecution.
He and his lawyers have argued that Brazil's Supreme Court abused its power, interfered in the 2022 elections and is now trying to jail him and his allies.
They recently pointed to recordings of a former Bolsonaro aide, whose confessions have become key to the investigations, claiming that investigators have a predetermined narrative that Bolsonaro is guilty.
In the weeks since, Bolsonaro's legal problems have worsened.
The country's Supreme Court released documents showing that leaders of Brazil's army and air force told police that after losing the 2022 election, Bolsonaro presented military leaders with a plan to overturn the results.
Military leaders told police they refused and warned the former president that they could arrest him if he attempted to do so.
Bolsonaro said this month that he was not worried about being arrested.
“I could well be in another country, but I decided to return here at all costs,” he said at a political event.
"I'm not afraid."