1664576907 Why did Lula da Silva receive a prison sentence which

Why did Lula da Silva receive a prison sentence (which was later overturned)?

Lula or Bolsonaro? So the candidates arrive in Brazil 3:32

(CNN Spanish) — Former President of Brazil between 2003 and 2010 and now again a candidate in the elections, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was sentenced to 12 years in prison for corruption in 2017 and served 19 months of the sentence before it was overturned by the judiciary.

The investigations into and convictions for money laundering in connection with Operation Lava Jato, which prevented Lula da Silva from standing for election again in 2018, have been the subject of controversy, and the former president has consistently protested that he was a victim of political persecution.

Lula now faces incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro in the first round of the October 2 general election (if necessary, there will be a second round on October 30) and the corruption case against him has been closed.

“I was arrested so you could be elected president, but then I was found not guilty. But I’m going to win now to see in one fell swoop what he’s so desperate to hide!” Lula said in the debate with Bolsonaro in August, referring to the current president’s alleged efforts to hide information since taking office and to weaken transparency The indictment.

Moments of the first presidential debate in Brazil 3:39

Lula also used this instance to once again deny the corruption allegations and defend his innocence after being convicted of corruption in 2017.

This is a summary of the corruption case against him.

the accusations

Lula da Silva was President of Brazil for the Workers’ Party (PT) between 2003 and 2010, and when he retired he had a 90% approval rating. He was followed by his protégé Dilma Rousseff, also from the PT.

In 2014, Operation Lava Jato (Car Wash) began in Brazil, the largest corruption investigation in Brazilian history, which focused on the state oil company Petrobras, numerous politicians and construction companies, including Odebrecht.

Led by federal judge Sergio Moro, Operation Lava Jato unveiled an alleged national-level corruption plot involving mostly politicians from the Progressive Party (PP), the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) and the Workers’ Party (PT) in power and the opposition Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB).

Sergio Moro, former Minister of Justice of Brazil. (Credit: Andre Coelho/Getty Images)

In 2016, Lula da Silva was indicted twice as part of Operation Lava Jato: in a trial being handled in a Brasília court, he faced charges of an alleged crime of obstruction of justice during the course of the investigation; while he faced alleged crimes of passive corruption and money laundering in a second complaint handled by Judge Sérgio Moro in Curitiba. The charges also included his wife, Marisa Leticia Lula da Silva.

In March of that year, Lula agreed to become Rousseff’s chief of staff, a position that would give him some immunity from investigation, but days later a judge in the Supreme Court of Brazil issued an injunction to prevent that.

Regarding the allegations against him, Lula said in a series of tweets at the time that it was “fiction”, his lawyers said in a statement that the case was politically motivated and accused the prosecutor’s office of jumping to conclusions.

Sentence

A Brazilian judge ruled in September 2016 that there was enough evidence for Lula da Silva, his wife – who died months later – and six other people to stand trial on corruption charges.

Finally, on July 12, 2017, Lula was found guilty of corruption and money laundering on bribes and benefits he received from state oil company Petrobras. Brazilian federal judge Sergio Moro – who later became justice minister in Jair Bolsonaro’s government between 2019 and 2020 – sentenced Lula da Silva to nine and a half years in prison, but the former president remained free during the appeals process.

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In September, new corruption charges were brought against Lula da Silva, his successor Rousseff and six Labor Party members. They were accused of leading a criminal organization to siphon off funds from the state oil company Petrobras as part of Operation Lava Jato.

Lula da Silva, Rousseff and the Labor Party denied all allegations.

On January 24, 2018, a Brazilian appeals court unanimously upheld Lula’s corruption conviction, ultimately derailing his plans to run again in this year’s presidential election.

The three appeals court judges extended his sentence by two and a half years, earning him 12 years and a month in prison. However, Lula da Silva remained free pending further appeals.

Lula in prison

On April 7, 2018, after nearly two years of trial, Lula da Silva turned himself in to federal authorities to begin serving his 12-year sentence on corruption charges after defying orders to surrender in a jail for a day a union building.

Lula da Silva arrives at Federal Police Headquarters in Curitiba on April 7, 2018 to serve his 12-year sentence. (Credit: MAURO PIMENTEL/AFP via Getty Images)

While still in prison in Curitiba, Paraná state, Lula tried to run for the presidential elections in August, but a month later Brazil’s highest electoral court prevented him from doing so because of his corruption conviction.

In early 2019, he was again sentenced to 12 years and 11 months in prison for accepting bribes in the form of renovation work at his country house, but shortly thereafter the Supreme Court of Brazil reduced Lula da Silva’s previous sentence of 12 years. and one month to 8 years and 10 months.

Furthermore, on November 7 of the same year, the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil ruled that the accused could remain at large until all appeals were exhausted. The verdict reversed an earlier decision that had helped put dozens of powerful politicians and businessmen behind bars. And a day later, Lula da Silva was released from prison after serving over 19 months.

The conviction is overturned and Lula announces his candidacy

In June 2019, digital outlet The Intercept Brasil published alleged communications via a mobile phone app between Sergio Moro and Operation Lava Jato’s chief prosecutor, Deltan Dalagnol. At the time, the media defended the thesis that Moro and the prosecutors had acted in a coordinated, unilateral and “legally dubious” manner through a series of reports.

Moro denied any irregularities in his actions and said when he was Justice Minister that the messages leaked to The Interpect Brasil by an anonymous source were obtained illegally. He also asked the news agency to turn over all received messages to the authorities for a full analysis of the content, as he said the material released could have been “taken out of context or even manipulated”.

Lula da Silva after leaving prison on November 9, 2019 in Sao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil. (Credit: Pedro Vilela/Getty Images)

Some time later, Lula da Silva sued Moro, whom he accused of irregularities in a corruption trial. Da Silva’s defense claimed Moro’s conviction, which was also upheld by an appeals court, caused him “irreparable” damage as he spent 580 days in prison.

On September 1, 2020, a federal court in Brazil dismissed a corruption case against Lula da Silva, alleging that he had exerted pressure on behalf of the construction company Odebrecht, for lack of sufficient evidence.

On March 8, 2021, Brazil’s Federal Court overturned Lula da Silva’s corruption convictions for procedural violations and ordered the retrial. And on March 23, it ruled that former judge Sergio Moro acted biased when he sentenced former President Lula da Silva in connection with the purchase of a triplex apartment in the city of Guarujá, São Paulo.

Three of the five members of the Supreme Court came to this conclusion. However, the verdict did not automatically stay all cases against Lula da Silva, as some of the cases against him were not initiated by Moro. The former judge did not rule on the verdict.

Already cleared, on May 7, Lula da Silva officially announced his candidacy for president in the October 2022 elections.

Featuring information from Camilo Rocha, Ana Cucalón, Marcia Reverdosa, Francho Barón, Shasta Darlington and Flora Charner.