Brazil’s federal police said that messages found on the telephone of embattled former President Jair Bolsonaro show that at one point he wanted to flee to Argentina and request political asylum, according to documents seen Wednesday by the Associated Press.

The undated draft asylum request, discovered on a device seized during investigations, was addressed to Argentina’s President Javier Milei and claimed Bolsonaro had been the victim of political persecution and feared for his life, according to a report filed by federal police investigators to Brazil ’s supreme court.