RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Eduardo Fauzi Richard Cerquise, 41, appointed by the police as one of the perpetrators of the attack on the ‘Porta dos Fundos’ headquarters, took responsibility for the attack and said he intends to seek asylum in Russia, where he traveled the day before his arrest on December 31st.
In an interview with “Projeto Colabora”, he said that the attack was not politically motivated and that the claim for authorship by the “Comando de Insurgência Popular da Grande Família Integralista Brasileira” (“Popular Insurgency Command of the Great Brazilian Integralist Family”) was a marketing strategy.
Fauzi was identified by the police through CCTV footage, in which he is shown getting off one of the vehicles used by the criminals in Botafogo, a neighborhood close to Humaitá, where the production company is based.
The group hurled two Molotov cocktails at the entrance lobby of the production building on Christmas Eve. The fire was put out by a security guard and no one was injured. The attack was a retaliation for the depiction of a gay Jesus in the Porta dos Fundos Christmas special.
In the interview, Fauzi minimized the attack by saying that a “little shit fire on a glass wall” is a minor offense compared to the “symbolic violence” promoted in the Christmas Special by the humor group on Netflix. He further argued that if the authorities are conniving, “there is no other way than to react taking matters into your own hands”.
Fauzi says he was warned of the arrest warrant in time to flee the country – but he does not explain how this happened. He has a girlfriend and a son in Russia. “I am the typical candidate [to receive asylum]”. However, this is a political decision.
He denied involvement with militias and said his criminal acts “are of low offensive potential.” “I am a fighter working in defense of the popular classes for the dignity of their right to work; it is inevitable that there will be street confrontations that end up in the police sphere.”
Fauzi was convicted and arrested for assault to the then Public Order Secretary, Alex Costa, during an operation to close irregular parking lots in downtown Rio in 2013.
He was further accused of assaulting his ex-wife. In the interview, he says the victim withdrew the complaint and the case did not evolve into a lawsuit.