Lawyer says that Latam confirmed to the STF that Filipe Martins traveled to Curitiba in 2022

Lawyer Ricardo Fernandes, who defends the former advisor to former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), Filipe Martins, told People’s Gazette this Friday (15) that he received information that the airline Latam confirmed to the Federal Supreme Court (STF) that he traveled from Brasília to Curitiba in December 2022, not justifying the claim that he had traveled with Bolsonaro to the United States.

The supposed trip with the former president, without immigration records, was used to base the request for Martins’ preventive detention, at the beginning of February, during the launch of Operation Tempus Veritatis, which targeted the former president, former ministers, former advisors, allies and military personnel. At the time, he was detained in Ponta Grossa (PR), where he lives with his wife.

According to Ricardo Fernandes, the information from Latam was passed on to the STF at the request of the case’s rapporteur, Minister Alexandre de Moraes, to prove the defense’s claim that he did not travel with Bolsonaro to the United States on December 30, 2022. He also received this confirmation from an official company service channel.

Latam told People’s Gazette that “it will respond to the authorities when it becomes aware of the letter”. In a statement, the airline stated that “any passenger who has flown with the company can obtain the boarding declaration for their trip by calling their call center directly.” Latam stressed that it “does not publicly disclose any information about its passengers”.

The STF told the reporter that the process is being carried out in secrecy and that it cannot provide information. “Latam provided the information to the request made by the STF and responded to the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), with the boarding declaration confirming that he was on the flight that came to Curitiba on the 31st [de dezembro de 2022]reinforcing the thesis that he did not travel with the delegation on the 30th”, said the lawyer.

According to Ricardo Fernandes, this report was not even necessary, as official information obtained through the Access to Information Law (LAI) with data from the occupants of the delegation was already publicly available.

Fernandes also stated that it would also not be possible for Martins to have traveled on a commercial flight that day as he was in a meeting at Palácio do Planalto at 9:15 am – although he only registered the entry, not the exit – and the first flight of the day for the North American city of Orlando it was 10 am.

He also could not have traveled on the night flight, at 10pm, as there is a record from Latam that he boarded for Curitiba on the afternoon of the 31st – he would have had to go and return in a short interval, which Fernandes classifies as “humanly impossible ”.

Ricardo Fernandes also told People’s Gazette who attached documents to the process that prove that Martins traveled from Brasília to Curitiba and then to Ponta Grossa, such as proof of checking in eight pieces of luggage and a car trip via app to the final city, which would prove that he was moving with the wife. He also attached proof of food delivery orders via app throughout January until he was arrested in early February.

Because of this, there has been an opinion from the PGR since March 1st for the release of Martins from the Pinhais Penal Medical Complex, in the metropolitan region of Curitiba, which has not yet been authorized by Moraes in principle due to a request for images made to Brasília International Airport.

As he was informed, the airport security circuit keeps the images archived for only 45 days. And this is what Moraes’ decision to release Martins or not will depend on.

“We are waiting for the airport to officially inform the minister about the images,” said Ricardo Fernandes. A Inframérica, the airport’s concessionaire, told People’s Gazette which “does not pass on information about legal requests”.

Ricardo Martins also stated that Martins “is very strong mentally, even with the deprivation of seeing his family, specifically his wife” and that, in general, he is “calm and apprehensive about his release”. “But, consciously, without nurturing false hopes. You know it’s a political process”, he added.