Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (R) and Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro hug after giving a joint press conference on February 17, 2022 in Budapest, Hungary
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (R) and Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro hug after giving a joint press conference on February 17, 2022 in Budapest, Hungary AFP

Jair Bolsonaro was recently "hosted for two days" at the Hungarian embassy in Brasilia, lawyers for the former Brazilian president said Monday, denying he had been hiding there to evade the law.

The far-right ex-leader's defense team released a statement in response to a report by the New York Times saying their client "hid" at the compound in February while under investigation.

According to the US newspaper, which reviewed video surveillance footage, Bolsonaro stayed at the embassy from February 12 to 14, only a few days after police confiscated his passport and arrested two aides.

Investigators on February 8 outlined their suspicions that Bolsonaro had fomented a "coup attempt" to prevent 2022 election winner and current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking power, in revelations that sent shockwaves through Brazilian politics.

Security camera images published by the Times show Bolsonaro entering the Hungarian embassy in Brazil the evening of February 12 and leaving the afternoon of the 14th.

Bolsonaro "was hosted for two days at the Hungarian embassy in Brazil to spend time with authorities from this friendly country," his lawyers said.

"It is publicly known that the ex-president has a good relationship with the Hungarian Prime Minister" Viktor Orban, they added.

The Hungarian nationalist leader had called Bolsonaro an "honest patriot" on social media only days before the embassy visit, and urged him to "Keep on fighting, Mr. President!" in a post showing a picture of the two men shaking hands.

"During the days in which he was housed at the Magyar embassy, via invitation, the Brazilian ex-president spoke with multiple authorities... on the subject of the political context of the two countries," Bolsonaro's lawyers added, using the term for Hungary's majority ethnic group.

"Any other interpretation... is fiction," they said, denouncing "fake news."

Bolsonaro, 69, is the subject of several investigations.

He has been barred from public office for eight years for baselessly trashing Brazil's voting system ahead of the 2022 elections he lost.

Last week, federal police recommended he be charged for falsifying his Covid-19 vaccination records.