Portuguese journalist detained at the airport will sue the PF at the International Criminal Court

Portuguese journalist and activist Sergio Tavares, who was detained for four hours at São Paulo International Airport, in Guarulhos, last Sunday (25), said this Thursday (29) that he will sue the Brazilian Federal Police at the International Criminal Court (ICC). ). He was interrogated upon arriving in Brazil to attend the event called by former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) on Avenida Paulista last weekend.

Tavares claims that the Federal Police “lied” in their claim that they detained him due to lack of a work visa to monitor and produce content about the demonstration, stating that the authority’s own investigation proves the contradiction. According to him, the citations in the text clarify that he was questioned about political issues, and not about migration procedures.

“During my interrogation, the visa issue was never mentioned. All I was asked were questions about politics, [como] January 8, dictatorship of the Judiciary, Flávio Dino, Alexandre de Moraes, etc.”, he stated in a video published on social media (see in full).

Sergio Tavares states that they tried to arrest him “for crimes of opinion”, citing, for example, an excerpt that says that “when asked about his statement that Brazil is experiencing a dictatorship of the Judiciary, he remained silent”. In another section, the inquiry records that “when asked that the electronic voting machine is unreliable, he remained silent”, and “when asked about his statement that Brazil is led by a criminal, he remained silent”, among others.

The interrogation on political issues, says the journalist, does not correspond to the Federal Police’s statement that it was a standard procedure due to the lack of a work visa. Tavares also commented on a resolution from the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs which states that “citizens in the European Union who travel to Brazil to carry out journalistic activities are exempt from visas for stays of up to 90 days, as long as the activity is not remunerated by a Brazilian source. ”.

“Do you think this [a detenção] Is it to check if I had seen it? Why are they so concerned that a European citizen addresses these issues? And why did they lie? Why did they detain me? Why did they interrogate me? Why do I bother them so much”, asked Serio Tavares in the video, stating that he will take the case to the ICC and the Human Rights Court.

In an interview with People’s Gazette this Wednesday (28), the journalist stated that the delegate who detained him at the São Paulo airport regretted having to interrogate him, but that he received instructions “from Brasília” to question him about political issues.

Sergio Tavares also said that he received a call from Bolsonaro while awaiting clearance at immigration, asking him to remain calm.

“I have a document in my hands from the Brazilian PF that proves that they lied and that the detention was illegal, unfair and this will have consequences. […] They were so amateur to the point of giving me documentary proof of this lie”, he added.