Through the wash

Sentencing of ex-president a milestone for Brazil

A3½-year judicial probe in Brazil into corruption involving government figures netted on Wednesday a 9½-year jail sentence for a former president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The conviction of Silva, at 71 perhaps intending to run for president again in 2018, was a clear sign to Brazilians that even a top political figure, renowned for his anti-poverty crusade and international achievements during his terms from 2003 to 2010, is not immune to the rule of law in that country. Some 157 politicians, including some members of parliament, have been convicted of corruption underthe probe.

It is called Operation Lava Jato — the term is Portuguese for “car wash” — and is intended to clear up Brazil’s long history of political corruption. Judge Sergio Moro, in sentencing the popular Silva, called it “systemic corruption.” The former president will be free while his conviction is under appeal, but he also faces four other charges in addition to the one under which he was convicted and sentenced to prison. The case in question involved a $1.1 million construction industryfavor to Silva.

Unless reversed on appeal, Silva’s confinement will put his Workers’ Party in a pickle to find a candidate for next year’s presidential elections. His successor as president, Dilma Rousseff, was impeached last year. Judge Moro is rumored to have presidential ambitions himself, something he denies categorically.

Judge Moro’s position is that Silva’s conviction underlines the critical role of the judiciary in governing a country. According to him, Silva’s culpability was “enormous,” requiring a stiff sentence that reflects the enormity of his responsibilities as president. Some judges, faced with sentencing senior officials for crimes, take the opposite point of view and hand out symbolic, pittypat sentences.

That just reinforces the popular suspicion that one gets the justice one can afford. Lenient treatment for the powerfulhas no place in a democracy.