In July 2025, the Civil Police of the Federal District, at the request of the Public Prosecutor's Office, launched an investigation into former President Jair Bolsonaro for allegedly linking President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. The investigation began after the Ministry of Justice forwarded to the Federal Police a complaint claiming that Bolsonaro had shared, via WhatsApp, an image connecting Lula to the leader accused of crimes against humanity.
On July 13, 2010, Lula, then President of Brazil, awarded Bashar al-Assad the Grand Collar of the National Order of the Southern Cross, Brazil's highest honor for foreign dignitaries. The act was formalized in the Decree of July 12, 2010, published in the Official Gazette of the Union, and signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time, Celso Amorim.
The National Order of the Southern Cross is traditionally intended for heads of state and foreign figures considered important to Brazilian diplomacy. At that time, Lula received Assad in Brasília for an official visit aimed at strengthening commercial and political ties between Brazil and Syria. However, months later, the Syrian government became the target of severe international criticism.
Bashar al-Assad came to power in 2000 after the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, and maintained an authoritarian regime. From 2011, during the Arab Spring, his government was accused by the UN and human rights organizations of massacres against civilians, use of chemical weapons, systematic torture, and persecution of minorities, including homosexuals. These actions resulted in thousands of deaths and millions of refugees.
As the civil war progressed, Assad relied militarily on Russia and Iran to maintain control. Although he resisted attempts to overthrow him, at times he had to relinquish strategic areas of Syria due to military pressure from the opposition and the Islamic State. His stay in power has been marked by allegations of war crimes and serious human rights violations.
The investigation against Bolsonaro, on the other hand, concerns an alleged crime against Lula's honor. The former president, currently under house arrest and prohibited from using social media, denies committing any crime. His defense argues that the shared message simply highlighted a public fact: Lula's award to Assad in 2010.
These circumstances raise questions about coherence and political criteria. While Bolsonaro is being investigated for referencing Lula's connection with Assad, it is a documented fact that the current president formalized a tribute to the Syrian leader, whose history is widely associated with crimes and abuses. The contradiction between the 2010 diplomatic gesture and the accusations against Assad highlights the need for debate on how foreign policy should be evaluated in light of democratic values and human rights.
See the Official Gazette published in 2010:
| Category | Fact/Data | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Documented atrocities (SNHR) | ||
| Extrajudicial killings | At least 202,000 civilians killed (incl. >23,000 children and 12,000 women). | SNHR — snhr.org |
| Forced disappearances | Approximately 96,321 cases. | SNHR — snhr.org |
| Deaths by torture | At least 15,102 (including children and women). | SNHR — snhr.org |
| Barrel bombs | 81,916 since Jul/2012; >11,000 deaths. | SNHR — snhr.org |
| Chemical weapons | 217 attacks; 1,514 dead (214 children, 262 women among civilians). | SNHR — snhr.org |
| Cluster munitions | 252 attacks; 835 victims. | SNHR — snhr.org |
| Incendiary attacks | 51 attacks against civilian areas. | SNHR — snhr.org |
| Mass deaths, disappearances, and torture | ||
| Civilian extermination | Responsible for >90% of civilian deaths; total estimate between 306,000 and ~580,000 killed (2011–2021). | Wikipedia (UN/NGO compilation) |
| Sednaya prison | Mass executions, torture, sexual abuse; 1–3 min trials; >13,000 hanged in first 5 years. | Wikipedia (Sednaya Prison) |
| Initial repression (2011) | Extrajudicial killings, mass arrests, torture, city sieges, collective punishments, service blockades (Mar–Jul/2011). | FIDH — fidh.org |
| - Chemical weapons and war | ||
| Systematic use | >300 confirmed chemical attacks (2012–2019); ~98% attributed to the regime. | Wikipedia (UN, OPCW, HRW) |
| Ghouta (21/08/2013) | 281–1,729 deaths; formal charges against Bashar and Maher al-Assad. | Wikipedia (Ghouta chemical attack) |
| International accountability | ||
| Arrest warrant | French justice maintains international warrant (Jun/2024) for crimes linked to 2013. | Le Monde |
| Trials in Paris | Torture cases (children/elderly) and death of journalist Marie Colvin, under universal jurisdiction. | The Guardian |
| Mass graves | UN describes Qutayfah and Najha as “extermination machines”; ~100,000 tortured/killed since 2013. | Reuters |
| Axis | Fact/Data | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Regime collapse and exit | ||
| Fall of Damascus | On 08/12/2024, HTS advances into Damascus; Assad flees. | RNZ; News.com.au |
| Destination | Assad and family in Moscow, under “humanitarian asylum”. | The Guardian; Reddit (reports) |
| Details and controversies | ||
| Deception of officials | Promised Russian support never arrived; secret exit from Damascus. | Reddit reports |
| Escape narrative | Claims to have been evacuated after drone attacks on Russian base in Latakia; immediate withdrawal order. | Euronews; Reddit |
| Media version | NYPost: told military help would come from Russia and fled; brother Maher reportedly escaped to Iraq. | New York Post |
| Current status and speculations | ||
| Whereabouts | No recent photos in Russia; exact location uncertain. | The Guardian; others |
| Rumors | Rumors of poisoning attempt in Moscow (unconfirmed officially). | Reddit reports |
| Assad regime crimes | Escape from the country |
|---|---|
| Murders, disappearances, torture, chemical weapons, and bombings; prisons like Sednaya; investigations and international warrants. | Capture of Damascus (12/2024), clandestine exit and asylum in Moscow; controversy over evacuation vs. escape. |
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