Jail looms large for Brazil’s Lula over graft
BRASILIA: Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court judges voted yesterday to reject former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s plea to avoid prison. After more than 10 hours of session, there were six votes against the habeas corpus and five for it.
The deciding vote was cast by court president Carmen Lucia Rocha.
With the habeas corpus denied, Lula can be arrested any time, preventing him from running in this year’s presidential elections.
He is facing accusations of corruption and money laundering. He is alleged to have received a flat for favouring certain companies in government contracts.
Lula denies owning the flat. His defence team said the prosecution did not present evidence that Lula is the owner. There is no contract in his name, no documents attesting to his ownership, and nothing more than the testimony of other defendants who gave evidence against him in exchange for leniency.
Lula was found guilty and last year sentenced to prison for nineand-a-half years. On January 24, an appeals court rejected a motion to overturn his conviction for money laundering and accepting bribes.
The court also stiffened his initial sentence, increasing it to more than 12 years. In terms of Brazilian law, after being found guilty by the appeals court, the former president can be arrested and made to start serving his sentence before all avenues of appeal are exhausted.
However, Lula’s defence contested the ruling, saying arresting a defendant before all appeals hurts the principle of presumption of innocence. The lawyers requested that the former president be allowed to remain free until all appeals had been heard. The Lula case has provoked extreme reactions in Brazil.
Thousands of people, both in favour of and against the habeas corpus, gathered in the capital Brasilia for the court’s decision.
In January, Lula’s Workers’ Party said the former president, who is also its founder, would be its candidate again in the October election. In previous polls, Lula enjoyed a clear lead over his potential rivals. Without him in the fray, the election result will be unpredictable. – Xihnua/African News Agency.