Brazilian deputy Arthur do Val acknowledged this Saturday the authorship of some leaked audios in which he makes sexist comments about Ukrainian women and left his candidacy for the Governor of Sao Paulo in the air after the intense repercussion of the case.
“The audios are mine, they are indecent, they are sexist (…) It is me being a child. This is not the posture that people expect from me, ”he said in a video uploaded on social networks of him.
On Friday night, the Brazilian press leaked some voice messages from the deputy, who is a candidate for the Government of Sao Paulo for the Podemos party, a member of the right-wing group Movimiento Brasil Libre (MBL) and who also works as a YouTuber, in which he states that Ukrainian women are “easy because they are poor” during her recent trip to Ukraine to accompany the conflict in Eastern Europe.
Likewise, he compares the rows of refugees with those in nightclubs in Brazil, describes the police as “goddesses” and states that he will return to Ukraine “as soon as this war is over”, among other statements with rude and sexist overtones.
The statements gave him a barrage of criticism from citizen, political and social sectors in Brazil, as well as the opening of an internal disciplinary procedure in Podemos and requests for an investigation for violation of decorum and encouragement of sexual tourism.
According to the legislator, the messages were sent to a “group of soccer friends” when he had already left Ukraine and the “tension” of the war had dissipated.
“I used expressions, I exaggerated, as many men do, as a group of friends does after soccer and those messages were leaked,” said Do Val, who, despite everything, did not apologize for the content of the audios.
“I am being accused of sex tourism, that devastates anyone.” So “I accept being judged for what I have said, but I do not accept being judged for what I have not done,” he added.
In the midst of the repercussion, the deputy left his candidacy for the Governor of Sao Paulo, the richest and most populous state in Brazil, in the air, considering that he does not want to “bother anyone.”
“I don’t know if I’m going to continue as a candidate. I’ve arrived in Brazil now and I don’t want to screw up the third way, my party, I don’t want to bother anyone.” If that’s for the best, I’m withdrawing “from the dispute,” she said.
After the messages came to light, the president of Podemos, Renata Abreu, described Do Val’s statements as “very serious and unacceptable” and announced the opening of a disciplinary investigation against him.
For his part, the former Minister of Justice and candidate for the Presidency of Brazil for Podemos, Sergio Moro, repudiated the “serious statements of deputy Arthur do Val”, which could “be configured as a crime”, and assured that he will never support ” people with that kind of opinion and behaviour”.
Arthur do Val traveled to Ukraine last Monday to follow up on the conflict after the Russian invasion of that country and returned to Brazil this Saturday morning. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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