User:Khelio/Leaked voicemails of Arthur do Val

The leaked voicemails of Arthur do Val about Ukrainian women refers to voicemails sent by politician and youtuber Arthur do Val, also known as "Mamãe Falei" (Mommy, I've said), to a group of friends, in the middle of his trip to the Ukrainian border to cover the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.In these voicemails, Arthur makes sexist e chauvinistic remarks about the local women, the mos notable one being that "[ukrainian women] are easy because they're poor". The voicemails were leaked to the brazilian news outlet Metrópoles, and soon had large repercussions through the media. After being repudiated by various organizations and figures, including from the president Jair Bolsonaro, Arthur removed his candidacy to governor of São Paulo. He also announced his departure from the Movimento Brasil Livre, where he started his political career, citing the removal of his mandate as an exaggeration, as well as being kicked out from the Podemos party, of which he was part of.

Trip to Ukraine
At the end of february 2022, Arthur do Val and Renan Santos recorded a video at the Frankfurt Airport on their way to the border of Slovakia and Ukraine to cover the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Where they criticized the neutrality of Jair Bolsonaro and Lula towards the war. The duo was criticized online, including by the state senator, Flávio Bolsonaro. They've said to have paid for the trip with their own money. Arthur claims to have raised 115 thousand reais (22,5 thousand dollars) to help the war effort. According to him, part of the money would be used to buy supplies to be donated to volunteeers, and the other would go to the Ukrainian Army.

Voicemails
While Arthur went back to Brazil from his trip, in a journalistic scoop by Gustavo Zucchi, published on the 4th of march by Metrópoles columnist, Igor Gadelha, voicemails of Arthur were leaked, where he makes many sexist remarks, saying for example that ukrainian women "are easy because theyre poor", and that he used his follower count on social media to atract them. He alleged that the refugee line had more gorgeous women than "the best club in Brazil", and that he found "a dozen goddesses policewomen, that you can marry and do everything she wants [...] four of these chicks that, you, if she shits, you clean her ass with your tongue". He finished saying that he intended on going back to Ukraine post-war. Arthur also mentions that Renan Santos would travel to european countries "just to get it with a blonde".

Repercussions
The leak was largely covered by many news outlets,  including by international ones such as The Guardian and Le Figaro. President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, labeled his words "so disgusting that it doesn't deserve a comment". State deputy Mônica Seixas, from PSOL, said that, if it was proven to be his voicemails, would ask for the removal of Do Val's mandate: "Serious breach of decorum, plus gender-based violence against Ukrainian women". Sergio Moro, who supported Do Val's trip and was his political ally, lamented the incident and asked for a quick statement of the party, saying that "a life guided by correctness and respect for all — both in public and in private life". Guilherme Boulos said "going to a country afflicted by war to harass women in need is far too disgusting.". Governor of São Paulo, João Doria, considered the incident "disgusting", "unnaceptable" and "shameful". São Paulo city councilor Fernando Holiday, ex-member of MBL, said: "The declarations attibuted to Arthur do Val are deplorable and unjustifiable." Fernando Haddad mocked, saying: "Another verbal faux pas, Moro?"

The leadership of the Free Brazil Movement said it would analyze the audios. Podemos, in a signed letter by party leader, Renata Abreu, classified the audios as "extremely serious and unnaceptable", and announced the opening of an internal disciplinary procedure that would investigate the case. The Women's Secretariat wrote a note of repudiation "for the offensive and disrespectful statements towards Ukrainian and Brazilian women", and said that it would call upon "the responsible bodies, including the Legislative Assembly of the State of São Paulo, so that all appropriate measures are taken". Senator Humberto Costa, president of the Senate's Human Rights Commission, said he intends to summon the deputy "to explain the misogynistic, sexist and attacking human dignity statements". Eduardo Bolsonaro said that he would call upon the Public Ministry against Arthur. The Minister of Women, Family and Human Rights, Damares Alves, commented that she would ask for the "immediate removal" of the deputy's mandate, calling him "disgusting", "low" and "dirty", and classifying the statements as "creepy".

State deputy Isa Penna alleged to have received a phone call from Arthur "to know how fucked he is": "I not only said how I think his audios are gross, I also mentioned how hes very much screwed", and affirmed that she would start a legal representation against the deputy. State deputy Paulo Fiorilo wrote that the situation is "unnaceptable and unbelievable", and congresswoman Carla Zambelli said that Arthur's behavior was "vile and cruel". Congresswoman Sâmia Bomfim afirms that Do Val "objectifies women" and left Brazil for "likes", calling him a "disgusting machist". Congresswoman Jandira Feghali declared that the audios are "appalling", and invoke "disgust, indignation, repulsion". President of Socialism and Liberty Party, Juliano Medeiros, asked for the removal of Arthur's mandate. State deputy Gil Diniz said that Arthur "has no character, a physical and moral dwarf", another state deputy, Janaina Paschoal said the case is "revolting" and "sad". Senator and leader of Cidadania, Alessandro Vieira, also criticized Do Val, calling him a "exhibitionist". State deputy Marina Helou, from Rede Sustentabilidade, classified the episode as an "insult" to all women. According to her, these aren't just "unfortunate declarations", but a "raw" example of the patriarchy.

Vice president of the COVID-19 CPI and senator Randolfe Rodrigues, called the episode "disgusting and unacceptable, for all reasons, especially that of humanitarian order. Typical delinquent attitude", and called Arthur of "abject, disgusting, totally unscrupulous, without morals or humanity!" Various politicians from Arthur's party, the Podemos, asked for Arthur to be kicked out. senator Alvaro Dias declared:"My position is to ask him to leave the party and, if he does not agree, to decide on expulsion". Congressman José Nelto says that "he will pay the price", and that "the best for him right now is to resign from his party so he doesn't get expelled". Former Ukrainian Ambassador Fabiana Tronenko called for Arthur's mandate to be revoked, calling him a "cretin" and a "vagrant". The charge d'affaires of the Ukrainian Embassy in Brazil, Anatoliy Tkach, described the comments as "unacceptable". The Ukrainian-Brazilian Central Representation asked the president of the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo, Carlão Pignatari, to revoke the mandate of Arthur. The Ukrainian Society of Brazil stated that the audios offend "not only the women who were mentioned, but all of them. It also affects our origin and history". Journalist Jamil Chade wrote a letter to Arthur in his column on UOL, about "the female condition in war and peace", where she comments on what she saw in refugee camps and the despair of these people. Arthur's then girlfriend, Giulia Blagitz, announced the end of the relationship on her social media. (...) And the ethics council of the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo has already received 10 representations asking for the impeachment of state deputy Arthur do Val, who decided to go to Ukraine to record images of him giving food to refugees afflicted by the war. Something brave people do. And he returned to Brazil with another recording, which is for cowardly people. From people who call Ukrainian refugees easy women because they are poor. And he says he didn't keep any of them because he didn't have time. In the audio, the deputy speaks, and with a tone of confessed desire, about one of the three most terrible ills of wars since the beginning of the world: sexual violence against women. An atrocity rivaled only by torture and genocide.

Arthur's response
On the following day, arriving in the Cumbica International Airport, in Guarulhos, Arthur do Val confirmed the authorship of the voicemails, admitting that he was wrong, that it wasn't what he really thought and that his words "were a mistake, in a moment of excitement". he alleged that "there was a misunderstanding" and that "people are attributing the audios to another context": "I went there to do one thing, send an unfortunate audio and the impression passed is that I went there to do something else". Right after that he published an apology video on his youtube channel, and annouced he would revoke his candicacy for Governor of São Paulo. On the 6th, Arthur published a 28 minute video where he is shown buying donations for ukrainians on the slovakian side, then delivering them on Ukrainian territory, to refute critics that he travelled for sexual tourism, saying: "Saying that I went there for sex tourism or something else... Please watch the video and come to your own conclusion." in a interview for Folha de São Paulo, Arthur said he has decided to leave MBL.

Action on the Ethics Council
Not long after the leak, deputies of the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo (Alesp) announced that they would activate the Parliamentary Ethics and Decorum Council, which was done on the 6th. 15 state deputies signed a petition against Arthur, filed by Alesp, asking that the deputy be investigated for committing an act of breach of decorum and respond to a disciplinary process, resulting in the loss of his mandate. The document says: "As Deputies and State Deputies, we want to register before this Council of Ethics and Parliamentary Decorum our repudiation of the sexist, misogynistic, unworthy and violent content of the audios."

