Link: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/05/brazil-former-president-lula-jail-corruption-supreme-court-ruling
Source: The Guardian
Brazil’s former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, could soon be jailed after the supreme court denied a request to allow him to remain free while appealing against a 12-year conviction for corruption charges.
The ruling in the early hours of Thursday marked an extraordinary turn of events for Brazil’s most popular politician, who left office in 2010 with an approval rating of more than 80%.
Supreme court judges ruled against him by six to five after a marathon session. The decision could end Lula’s political career, and deepen divisions in the country, which has been racked by recent episodes of political violence.
Lula has said he is innocent and the charges are politically motivated to prevent him from running for president again in the October election. In an official statement, his Worker’s party described the ruling as: “a tragic day for democracy and Brazil”. The case against him is part of Brazil’s sprawling “Car Wash” investigation, which has jailed dozens of top executives and politicians.
Lula oversaw a period of sustainable economic growth, and his social policies helped lift millions of people out of poverty. He was leading opinion polls ahead of the election, despite his conviction and six separate pending corruption trials.
Recently, however, Lula became a more polarising figure as the economy struggled and multiple corruption allegations against him and his leftist party emerged, creating widespread anger amongst the electorate. According to the polling institute Datafolha, 53% want him jailed.
The decision is a serious blow to the political survival of Brazil’s first working-class president, whose career from a factory shop floor to high office is sinking in the corruption scandals that have rocked the political establishment and especially his party, which held power from 2003 until 2016.
Brazilian society remains deeply divided after Lula’s successor Dilma Rousseff was impeached and removed from office amid a corruption scandal and an economic crisis. Her successor, the current president Michel Temer, avoided standing trial before the supreme court last year when when allies in congress shielded him from charges of corruption, obstruction of justice and organised crime.
Lula’s supporters, made up of groups of leftwing social movements and trade union members, gathered in the capital, Brasilia, on Wednesday, while thousands of anti-Lula protesters took to the streets of 100 Brazilian cities the night before.
“The crisis that Brazil is in today comes from the bad planning and corruption of [politicians’] mandate, we’ll take 10 years to recover,” said Douglas Grandini, a trained economist who works at a real estate brokerage who attended an protest anti-Lula protest.
The verdict was delivered by the supreme court president, Cármen Lúcia, shortly after midnight on Thursday after a session that lasted more than 10 hours. Lúcia’s vote against Lula was decisive, tipping the score six v five against the former president.
The decision of when to issue the arrest warrant now lies with Sergio Moro, the judge who convicted Lula, hailed by some as a tough on crime, anti-corruption hero but accused by others of overreach.
The vote was overshadowed by tension after the commander of Brazil’s armed forces, Gen Eduardo Villas Bôas, tweeted on Tuesday that the army “repudiates impunity” and is “attentive to its institutional missions.”.
The comments rattled many in Brazil, which from 1964-1985 was under a military dictatorship characterised by oppression, censorship and grave human rights abuses where thousands were killed or tortured by the regime.
“It is greatly disturbing that the army commander appears to be pressuring and threatening the Brazilian supreme court,” said Amnesty International’s Brazil director, Jurema Werneck.
Lula was found guilty last year and sentenced to 10 years in prison for accepting bribes worth 3.7m reais (£790,000) from OAS, the amount of money prosecutors said the construction company spent refurbishing a beach apartment for Lula in return for his help winning contracts with the state-run oil company Petrobras.
In January, an appeal court unanimously upheld his conviction and increased the prison sentence to 12 years.
Under Brazilian electoral law, a candidate is forbidden from running for elected office for eight years after being found guilty of a crime. Some exemptions have been made in the past, and the ultimate decision in Lula’s case would be made by the highest electoral court, if Lula officially files to be a candidate for the October election.