Brazil's Bolsonaro begins jail term

0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that draft is flawed? In 1999, four Russian apartment buildings were bombed, hundreds killed. But even now, we still don't know for sure who did it. It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories. I'm Helena Merriman, and in a new BBC series, I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story. What did they miss the first time? The History Bureau, Putin and the apartment bombs. Listen on bbc.com or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

0:46I'm Janet Jalil, and in the early hours of Wednesday, the 26th of November, these are our main stories. Brazil's former president, Jair Bolsonaro, begins a 27-year prison sentence for a coup attempt. Italy's Parliament has unanimously voted to make femicide a standalone crime punishable by life imprisonment. Also in this podcast, a Popemobile belonging to Pope Francis is transformed to help children in Gaza. And... He certainly was a spy. He didn't like the word, but he worked in British intelligence. We hear how the children's author, Roald Dahl, led a double life.

1:34We start this podcast in Brazil, where just days after the former president, Jair Bolsonaro, was moved from house arrest to a police cell for an alleged attempt to remove his ankle monitor, he has now been ordered to begin serving a 27-year sentence by a Supreme Court judge. The 70-year-old far-right leader was convicted in September of plotting a coup after he failed to win re-election three years ago. Mr Bolsonaro is serving his sentence at the same police headquarters in Brasilia where he was taken into custody on Saturday after a judge deemed him a flight risk. He won't have contact with other prisoners, instead living in a small room with a private bathroom, a television, air conditioning and a mini-fridge.

2:18A group of Bolsonaro supporters gathered outside the police headquarters.

2:29I'm absolutely outraged. The best president of our lives. What the judge and that whole gang of his are doing to Bolsonaro is an injustice. He's an upright, honest man, a family man. The left has turned everything upside down. This is political persecution. In stark contrast, a nearby group of Brazilians cheered and waved champagne bottles, saying they'd waited a long time for justice.

2:58Today is a day when we can finally breathe and say that we continue to stand in defence of democracy, a democracy that is so young, yet one we refuse to give up. Our reporter Mimi Suibi told me it was an ignominious end to a very colourful career. It is certainly a dramatic fall from grace. This was a president who fired up Brazil's right wing and reshaped the political landscape. Those against him will remember his four-year presidency as fuelling environmental devastation, being the cause for thousands of Brazilians dying due to his Covid denial, as well as hostility towards minorities, whereas his supporters who are outraged by the sentencing and the fact that he will serve time in prison or his form of prison called it a witch hunt against him and referred to him as South America's Donald Trump.

3:50A very divisive career that came to an end with a plot which involved a plan to assassinate Lula da Silva, his rival. It failed after military chiefs refused to partake in it. And the court later convicted him, as well as his accomplices, of trying to annihilate Brazilian democracy and plunge the country back into dictatorship. And this comes despite his close ally, Donald Trump, imposing 50 % tariffs on Brazilian imports in an attempt to keep Mr. Bolsonaro out of prison, an attempt that now seems to have failed. Yes, President Trump used his political and economic might to try and influence the trial of Jair Bolsonaro.

4:32He put sanctions on the top judges, as well as put really hefty 50 % tariffs on Brazilian products. Those have now gone down to 40%, but still very, very significant. And I'm sure the far right in Brazil and the right wing more generally will be looking to President Trump to try and help his ally not serve as much jail time or serve it in his special room in the police HQ in Brasilia. But Mr Bolsonaro had been under house arrest, but then it appears that there was some kind of attempt to escape, although he denies this. Tell us more about that. So this is an incredible turn of events. He was under house arrest, had been since August.

5:12And on Saturday, he was arrested. And it came to light that he had tried to solder off his ankle monitor using a really hot iron. And he said it was medicine induced. He was having hallucinations that were making him really paranoid. And he thought the ankle monitor was eavesdropping on his conversations. In court, he later said that he came to his senses very quickly and he had no intention to flee. although this was enough for the court to kind of dismiss an appeal attempt and deem him a flight risk and therefore put him in custody awaiting the sentence that we've seen now. So is this the end of the road, Mr Bolsonaro?

5:48According to the Supreme Court, yes. There is no longer any availability for appeals. There are no more changes. This is final. However, Mr Bolsonaro's lawyers say they definitely will appeal, despite the court refusing any further challenges, and is expected that they're going to insist on trying to transfer him back to house arrest. They're going to cite his precarious health after being stabbed in 2018, as well as his age. That failed assassination attempt. The failed assassination attempt, as well as his age. And analysts, quite widely on both sides of the political spectrum, expect that Bolsonaro will serve some time in his prison cell, in his kind of special room in that headquarters, but perhaps not all of it.

6:29It's expected that he will at some point go to house arrest and serve out some remaining time, whatever that may look like, under house arrest, which that is what he is pushing for and sees as the most likely option. Mimi Sreby. In our previous edition, we covered the alarming scale of femicide globally, a murder where the motivation is gender related. UN data reveals that 50 ,000 women and girls worldwide were killed by partners or family members in 2024. That's the equivalent of one woman or girl being killed every 10 minutes. Now, Italy's parliament has voted unanimously to approve a landmark bill that makes femicide a standalone crime punishable by life imprisonment.

7:14There are critics who say the legislation won't work and that Italy needs serious investment in education to reform a deeply patriarchal society. But it is one of few countries in Europe to introduce a femicide law. Sarah Rainsford reports from Rome.

7:37There's a colourful gathering of people here around the fountain in the centre of Piazza della Repubblica. You can see lots of women in pink scarves, people setting off flares, pink and purple puffs of smoke heading up into the sky. This is a march against violence against to women and particularly against femicide, the murder of women because of their gender. It's not that the numbers are so much higher in Italy, but this is a rare issue that gets broad political consensus. So the government came up with the law against femicide.

8:16Judge Paola Di Nicola is one of the authors.

8:24And this is now Italy's definition of femicide. The murder of a woman driven by hatred, discrimination or the desire to control because she's a woman. Talking of such crimes as rooted in exasperated love or strong jealousy is a distortion. That uses romantic, culturally acceptable terms. This law means we will be the first in Europe to reveal the real motivation of the perpetrators, which are hierarchy and power. It's important to introduce the word femicide. Gino Cecchettin's daughter, Giulia, was murdered two years ago by an ex-boyfriend. He wouldn't accept that their relationship was over. Filippo lured Giulia to a remote spot and then stabbed her repeatedly.

9:18It's a different homicide. It's an homicide related to a difference of power. He said he killed so that no one else could have her.

9:33Giulia's sister then made a speech in which Elena called him not a monster, but a healthy son of a deeply patriarchal society. From that moment on, we started to talk a lot in Italy about this. Gino likes the new law, but his focus is elsewhere. There is no sex education in Italy, and Gino wants that and emotional education in all schools here. What happened to Filippo and Giulia is underlining what's important is to manage emotion. Because if you feel everything black while your girlfriend has split it up, you are in serious trouble because you cannot handle this emotion. And that comes to the worst decision you can do.

10:16I just stepped into an exhibition space here in Rome. The exhibits here shows a mother with the mop, a man with bottles of beer on the table and the remote control. There's also a speaker playing out wolf whistles and catcalls. And there's a display in the corner which is about femicide. We are in the Museum of Patriarchy. This is Museum of the Future. when equality between women and males are succeeded. At this time, also the violence is not a problem. So this is when all of these problems are in a museum because they're part of history? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. There are a lot of forms of violence, like a pyramid.

11:06We have to start to deconstruct and destroy the base to destroy the worst problem, the family city. When you talk to women here about the femicide law, they all say that this is a phenomenon which comes from society and that it is society itself where there needs to be changes. And this museum, I guess, encapsulates many of the problems that people here see. Not unique to Italy, but certainly on many of the indices of gender equality, Italy is pretty low down the list.

11:42the final votes in parliament came after hours of passionate speeches but not a debate they all agreed the yes vote was unanimous from now on those found guilty of killing women because they are women will face a life sentence and every single femicide will be properly recorded and counted. Sarah Rainsford. A Popemobile that belonged to the late Pope Francis has been turned into a mobile medical clinic to be deployed to treat children in Gaza, the Pope's final wish. Aid workers say the vehicle is capable of treating around 200 children per day, but it's unclear when it will be allowed to enter the territory.

12:25Our Middle East correspondent Yolande Nell went to Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank to see the newly converted vehicle.

12:36Back in 2014, Pope Francis was greeted by thousands of well-wishers as he was driven through the streets of Bethlehem in his customised Popemobile. He gave a huge open-air mass for Christians of the Holy Land in Manger Square.

12:54And then, for the past decade, the Popemobile stood as a memento of that day outside a nearby ice cream store. Until now. It was one of the dying wishes of the late Pope that his iconic vehicle should be turned into a mobile clinic for children in Gaza. It's been kitted out with medical supplies and even has a small fridge for storing medicines and an oxygen unit. Alistair Dutton is from the Catholic aid agency Caritas, which carried out the work. It's a serious medical facility to provide health care for children, but I think it's also symbolic in terms of offering a symbol of hope.

13:40The tiny Christian community of Gaza was close to the heart of Pope Francis. He telephoned displaced parishioners living at the Catholic Church there nearly every day during the war. He repeatedly called for a ceasefire, but didn't live to see the truce that's now taken hold. His idea was that his Popemobile would show how much he cared and would be part of his legacy. Church leaders say they're now working on getting the Popemobile to Gaza as soon as possible. Yolande Nell. To a story now which has gripped New Zealand. It all started when a couple successfully bid in an online auction for the contents of an abandoned storage facility in Auckland three years ago.

14:21What they didn't know was that those contents included a suitcase which contained a terrible secret, the remains of two young children murdered four years previously. Now, the mother of those two children, Hak Young Lee, originally from South Korea, has been sentenced to life in prison for their murder after her plea of insanity was rejected. With more, here's Aziz Al-Safin, a reporter for our New Zealand partners TVNZ in Auckland. This has been really two years in the making in a case that has really shocked the country. 45-year-old Lee was found guilty of murdering her two children earlier this year, seven-year-old Una and six-year-old Minu.

15:08The killings actually took place in 2018, but the bodies weren't discovered until 2022, four years later. That was because the contents of a storage unit, which had a suitcase containing the human remains of those children, were discovered by buyers who had bought those contents in an online auction, as you can imagine, one that shocked many people. And of course, this triggered an international investigation, by which point Lee had already fled New Zealand. She was living in South Korea at the time, but was later extradited to New Zealand to face trial. Now, much of the trial and sentencing, even today, Lee showed little to no emotion.

15:54Her head just bowed down as her sentence was read out. life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 17 years. New Zealand reporter Aziz Al-Safin. Still to come on the Global News podcast. Today's ruling doesn't introduce marriage equality in Poland, but it's the start of a new chapter in the ongoing struggle for equal rights. The EU's top court rules that same-sex marriages must be respected throughout the bloc.

16:36If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that draft is flawed? In 1999, four Russian apartment buildings were bombed, hundreds killed. But even now, we still don't know for sure who did it. It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories. I'm Helena Merriman, and in a new BBC series, I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story. What did they miss the first time? The History Bureau, Putin and the apartment bombs. Listen on bbc.com or wherever you get your podcasts. The BBC has spoken to refugees from Mali who have shared shocking testimonies of alleged war crimes committed by Russia's Wagner Group.

17:23Eyewitness accounts allege that civilians were brutally tortured and executed in central Mali's military bases. Our reporter Thomas Nadi has spoken to survivors who are now seeking refuge in eastern Mauritania. And just to warn you, his report contains graphic descriptions.

17:44In the scorching heat of Mauritania's Mberra refugee camp, Ahmed, a shopkeeper in his early 40s, finds Solens in a simple ritual. Clad in a traditional all-black outfit and tuban, he prepares local tea under a makeshift shed. But behind his calm demeanour lies a harrowing story. He claims he was arrested alongside a student and allegedly tortured by Wagner mesneries. They took us to a military base. The commander, called Hamza, came out and pointed at me. He turned to a Wagner soldier and signalled him to behead me, pointed at the student and turned to another Wagner mercenary and signalled him to behead the student.

18:32They took us to a hangar. They had suspected his boss, the shop owner, of collaborating with jihadists. The Malian army base situated near the village of Nampala in central Mali, where Ahmed was detained is also home to Russian mercenaries. Many atrocities, including torture and executions, allegedly took place in the camp. Inside the hangar, they brought two men and beheaded them in my presence. One was holding the man, and the other, called Andrei, pinned his head to the ground with his knee and brought out a knife and beheaded him. They brought the body closer to me to smell the fresh blood and said if you do not tell us the whereabouts of a shop owner, you will suffer a similar fate.

19:27The Mbera refugee camp is home to over 100 ,000 refugees from Mali, most of them women and children. I'm currently at the Mbera refugee camp in Mauritania. The camp is made up of mostly tent shelters and has a surprisingly serene atmosphere, considering the trauma many have endured. As someone who has ever lived in an IDP camp in northern Ghana due to conflict, this place brings back painful memories. But what's striking is that many refugees here are fleeing alleged atrocities committed by Russian mercenaries and jihadists. 35-year-old Binto clad in a blue dress and wearing a hijab, seeks refuge and a new beginning in the camp.

20:17She lost her husband last year to alleged Russian mercenary brutality in central Mali. Now, as a single mother of five, she faces an uncertain future. Who is going to look after my children? Who is going to look after me? When I hear the name Wagner, I feel traumatized. I feel afraid. I hate the word of Wagner because they have brought sadness to me. Wagner mercenaries were deployed to Mali in 2021 to support the gentified jihadists and separatist rebels. But Human Rights Watch has accused them of rights violations because of their brutal tactics.

21:01Hussein was tending to his flock and says he was suddenly seized by Wagner mercenaries and taken to a military base in Liri, in central Mali. He recounts being locked in a metal shipping container with no ventilation alongside his friends. They dragged us into an office and beat us until we fainted. When I woke up, my hands were tied to my friends' hands. They brought a motorbike close to my face, revved the engine and blew exhaust in my nose to wake me up fully. They did the same to my friend, but he didn't respond. That's when they realized he was dead. Thousands of Malian refugees continue to cross the border into neighboring Mauritania.

21:43Malian army and Russian mercenary bases are just a few kilometers across the border. And as the violence escalates, thousands are fleeing for their lives. The UNHCR says it has recorded atrocities committed by various armed groups in Mali, including the Wagner Group. Thayya Sucru, the UNHCR representative in Mauritania, says they are providing them with psychological and legal assistance as many want justice. Many of them come with the horrific violence that they have endured, either at the checkpoints, on the road, at their homes. Some of them are directly targeted. Some of them simply in a place where the villages and other places where the fighting is very close.

22:28Wagner ended his mission in Mali in June this year, but many of the soldiers are still part of the newly formed African Corps, now under the control of Russia's Ministry of Defence. The BBC has approached Russia's and Mali's defence ministries for comment, but they have not yet responded. That report was by Thomas Nadi. The European Union's top court has ruled that same-sex marriages must be respected throughout the EU after a high-profile case in Poland. LGBT campaigners have welcomed it as a step forward in the fight for equality. Our reporter Anna Aslan has the details. The case in Poland centres around two men who tied the knot in Germany in 2018.

23:10And when they moved back home, they requested their marriage certificate be registered there. But the request was refused, on the ground that Polish law does not allow marriage between persons of the same sex. Paweł Knut is the couple's lawyer. The complainers have known each other for nearly 20 years. They met in Poland and moved to Germany due to professional commitments where they got married. They've been wed for almost 10 years. They've now returned to Poland and want to continue their family life. On Tuesday, the European Court of Justice ruled in the couple's favour.

23:48The judge said all EU citizens have the right to live anywhere in the bloc and lead a normal family life. And so Poland's refusal to recognise the marriage infringes not only the freedom to move and reside, but also the fundamental right to respect for private and family life. The court noted this ruling did not require member states to allow marriage between people of the same sex in their national laws, but they're not allowed to discriminate when recognizing foreign marriages. The case now returns to Poland, where the men are expecting to receive their long-awaited marriage certificate with the Polish eagle emblem.

24:22Paweł Knut said it's a historic day. Today's ruling doesn't introduce marriage equality in Poland, we need to be clear about that. But it does require recognition of these foreign marriages so that spouses can claim the rights and obligations that under various rulings of international courts already belong to them. It's the start of a new chapter in the ongoing struggle for equal rights. LGBT campaigners in Poland have welcomed the ruling. It's expected to lead to a surge in other couples bringing their cases to City Hall. Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government has been working on a bill to regulate civil partnerships, including same-sex unions, but his coalition has been held back by resistance from conservative partners.

25:04Several officials blasted the ECJ's ruling as an assault on Polish sovereignty. Traditionally Catholic, Poland has yet to undertake the social and secular reforms implemented since the early 2000s in the rest of the region. It's one of the last remaining European countries still to legalize marriage or civil unions for same-sex couples. Anna Aslam. Now, if I mentioned Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda or the BFG, one of the world's best-known children's authors, Roald Dahl, would probably spring to mind. But did you know he also wrote the screenplay for a James Bond film after forming a close friendship with Bond author Ian Fleming during the Second World War when they were both spies?