Lula gets 13 years in new graft conviction
RIO DE JANEIRO: A Brazilian court has handed a near 13-year sentence to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in a new corruption conviction for the former leftist president already serving a lengthy jail term in a separate case.
Lula, 73, was found guilty by a court in the southern city of Curitiba of accepting renovation work by two construction companies on a farmhouse in exchange for ensuring they won contracts with the state-run oil company Petrobras. He was given a sentence of 12 years and 11 months by the court in the city of Curitiba.
A legal expert, Thiago Bottino do Amaral of the Getulio Vargas Foundation, told AFP that under Brazilian law, prison terms can be served one after the other as long as the total time behind bars does not exceed 30 years.