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Human Rights Lawyer Flees After Uruguay Refuses Asylum Request

07/22/2014 - 08h55

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LUCAS VETTORAZZO
LUIZA FRANCO
FROM RIO

The human rights lawyer Eloísa Sarny, 45, who provides legal representation to protestors in Rio de Janeiro, requested political asylum at the Consulate General of Uruguay on Monday morning (21).

Following the rejection of the request, she left the building on Monday night, without being seen by the police.

She has been on the run since last Friday (18), when the Rio courts charged 23 protestors with forming an armed criminal gang.

Along with 22 other defendants, Sarny is accused of planning and practicing vandalism and violent acts against the police. The acts allegedly occurred during protests since June last year.

The group is also accused of making Molotov cocktails and other explosive devices to be used in protests. Of the 23, 18 are currently in hiding.

Five activists are currently in custody. Elisa Quadros, better known as Sininho, Camila Jourdan and Igor D'Icarahy were all arrested on June 12, the day before the World Cup final.

Fábio Raposo and Caio Silva de Souza, accused of killing the cameraman Santiago Andrade, have been in custody since February.

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According to the lawyer Rodrigo Mondego, who also represents protestors, Sarny sought asylum along with the activists David Paixão, 18, whom she represents, and Camila Nascimento, 19.

However, Paixão and Nascimento do not appear in the warrant issued by the Public Ministry.

According to the Rio congresswoman Janira Rocha (PSOL), the three left the consulate after receiving a negative response from Consul Myriam Fraschini Chalar.

Chalar's reasoning was that Uruguay recognizes Brazil as a democracy, governed by the rule of law, and was therefore unable to grant asylum.

The three left by the parking lot, without being seen by military police officers who were on duty just meters from the consulate.

"POLITICAL PRISONER"

Mondego, who is the human rights coordinator of the PT (Workers' Party), signed a statement issued by the party last Thursday (17) criticizing the arrests of the activists.

He said that Sarny considers herself "a political prisoner of the state of Rio de Janeiro."

Sarny is represented by the Rio branch of the Brazilian Order of Lawyers (OAB-RJ).

In a statement, the president of the order, João Pedro Pádua, said that "the lawyer has the right to sympathize with a cause and not charge a fee, and this is not the same as colluding in it."

With additional material from ADRIANO BARCELOS

Translated by TOM GATEHOUSE

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