Eduardo Bolsonaro says he can request a passport for a ‘stateless person’ after being revoked

Former federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, impeached last Thursday, stated that he will seek a “stateless” passport to remain in the United States. He lost his parliamentary mandate for exceeding the absence limit.

According to Eduardo Bolsonaro, “there is an order for Brazilian embassies” not to issue him a passport. “If this news is confirmed”, says the former deputy, he will be without a Brazilian passport.

“As soon as I lose my mandate, within 30 or 60 days, I have to return my diplomatic passport. I will be without a Brazilian passport. But I can already say that I am vaccinated. This would not prevent me from making other international trips because I have other means to do so or perhaps even looking for a stateless passport. Let’s see how this happens”, said Eduardo Bolsonaro, on the channel “SBT News”.

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), stateless people are people who do not have their nationality recognized by any country.

“Statelessness occurs for several reasons, such as discrimination against minorities in national legislation, failure to recognize all residents of the country as citizens when that country becomes independent (state secession) and conflicts of laws between countries”, explains the agency.

Eduardo Bolsonaro’s mandate was declared vacant by an administrative act of the Chamber, based on article 55 of the Constitution, due to the accumulation of absences from deliberative sessions. The decision states that the deputy lost his position “for failing to attend, in the current legislative session, a third of the deliberative sessions of the Chamber of Deputies”, which authorizes automatic impeachment due to an administrative act.

This is an internal sanction from the Legislature, aimed at the deputy’s functional conduct, which does not imply, in itself, the suspension or loss of political rights. Thus, Eduardo preserves his eligibility and, in theory, can contest future elections, as long as there is no other conviction or framework that makes him ineligible.

The son of former president Jair Bolsonaro has been out of the country for months and is being investigated by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) for trying to coerce the Judiciary and having articulated, in the United States, sanctions against Brazilian authorities, including ministers of the Court.