Newly freed Brazilian ex-president holds rally

SAO BERNARDO DO CAMPO, BRAZIL— Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva addressed thousands of jubilant supporters outside a union headquarters on Saturday after being released from prison.

Dressed in a black blazer and T-shirt, da Silva spoke from a stage outside the union near Sao Paulo that he once led and that served as the base for his political career.

Da Silva, who has said his conviction for corruption was politically motivated, promised to fight graft and inequality.

“We are going to do a lot of fighting. Fighting is not one day on, then three months off, then come back. Fighting is every day,” da Silva said, adding that while he was 74, he had the energy of a 30-year-old, and will bring that to the streets.

Thousands of supporters wearing red and waving flags had gathered earlier around a giant figure of the former leader wearing the presidential sash.

Da Silva was released from prison Friday after the Supreme Court ruled a person can be imprisoned only after all appeals to higher courts have been exhausted.

He is still appealing his conviction related to the alleged purchase of a beachfront apartment and remains entangled in other court cases. He was also sentenced by a lower court judge in a case centred around ownership of a farmhouse in Atibaia, outside Sao Paulo.

If he loses his appeals in either conviction, he could find himself imprisoned once again. Da Silva has denied any wrongdoing and accused prosecutors and Sergio Moro, then a judge and now justice minister, of political persecution.