Cunningham all set for ISKA World Champs.
AS THE slow wheels of Brazilian justice turn, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is inching towards jail.
On Monday, appeals court judges unanimously upheld their decision to reject Lula’s appeal of his conviction on corruption charges – a move that brings him one step closer to being barred from the presidential ballot and put behind bars.
Despite his legal woes, Lula is leading polls for the October presidential election, and he is currently travelling through Brazil’s south to rally his supporters. His caravan has been met by protesters along the way.
On Monday, he spoke to a f ew thousand people in Francisco Beltrao in Parana state, repeating his contention that the charges against him are trumped up and meant to keep him from regaining the presidency. Before the former leader arrived, protesters threw eggs into the crowd, as they have done at several other sites along the tour.
ONCE-BELOVED POLITICIAN
That’s a sign of how divisive a figure the once-beloved politician has become. For some, Lula is a symbol of the boom years, when millions of Brazilians rose out of pover ty. For others, he represents widespread corruption in Brazil’s halls of power.
Lula was convicted last year of trading favours with construction company OAS in return for the promise of a beachfront apartment. The conviction was upheld by a group of federal magistrates in January, and they increased his sentence to 12 years and one month in prison.
In Brazil, the defence can enter a motion that questions such decisions, pointing out inconsistencies or contradictions. But the magistrates rejected the substance of the defence’s motion Monday, meaning the conviction stands. They did acknowledge one mistake in how they referred to a company which has no concrete effect on the case’s outcome.
Lula’s defence still has one more motion it can file with the same court, but lawyer Carolina Cleve said it was very unlikely to change anything since Monday’s ruling clearly showed the court’s position. Under Brazilian law, once all motions related to the first appeal are exhausted, the defendant can be ordered to start serving his sentence. The law also says he should be barred from running for office.
Still, there is yet another wrinkle in Lula’s case. He has filed a pre-emptive habeas corpus petition with the Supreme Federal Tribunal, so he cannot be jailed until justices rule on it. They are scheduled to do so on April 4.
It seems likely Lula will be jailed in the coming weeks, but he would be allowed to continue to appeal his conviction to higher courts while serving his sentence.
Even experts say this case is complicated – and not just because the law is open to interpretation.
“We’re in a very murky scenario,” said Celve, who is a professor of constitutional and electoral law at the Autonomous University Center of Brazil. “Politics is interfering in justice.”