Exleader may run again after judge annuls cases

SAO PAULO — A justice from Brazil’s top court on Monday annulled all sentences against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, which for now restores his political rights and would potentially allow him to run again for the presidency next year.

The decision also laid bare the country’s political divisions, with leftists celebrating their 75yearold leader’s return to the political arena as conservatives said the rulings were tantamount to impunity.

Others saw the decision as an attempt to preserve a vast but embattled corruption investigation that has been accused of impropriety.

The decision by Justice Luiz Edson Fachin drew no conclusions about the mammoth “Car Wash” corruption investigation centered on staterun oil giant Petrobras, from which the da Silva probes emerged. It said, instead, that the federal court in the Southern city of Curitiba, which sentenced da Silva twice for corruption and money laundering, didn’t have jurisdiction to put the leftist leader on trial.

Fachin said the cases will be sent to Brazil’s Federal District, where they can begin anew.

Da Silva was released from prison in November 2019 after the country’s top court ruled that he could be imprisoned only after all his appeals had been exhausted.

Da Silva’s lawyers said in a statement that they welcomed the decision, saying it “is aligned with everything we have said for more than five years in these suits.”

But Brazilian media reported that the country’s attorney general Augusto Aras, an ally of conservative President Jair Bolsonaro, is preparing to appeal the decision.

Da Silva has been a dominant figure in Brazilian politics for decades, first as a firebrand metalworkers’ union organizer who launched failed bids for the presidency, then as the charismatic leader whose popularity grew on the job as president from 2003 to 2010 thanks to hefty government handouts to the poor and infrastructure investments during the country’s commodities boom.

He left office with an approval rating in the mid80s. But his star fell in recent years as Brazil’s economy slumped and corruption scandals involving the former leader and those around him gained traction.