Lula left the prison to attend the funeral of her grandson

SAN PABLO.- Former Brazilian President

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

, jailed in Curitiba prison, arrived Saturday in custody in Sao Paulo to attend the funeral of his seven-year-old grandson Arthur, who died yesterday from meningococcal meningitis.

The exmandatario (2003-2010) arrived at the Congonhas airport at 8:45 am (local time) in a small plane of the state government of Paraná, according to his relatives. The funeral of little Arthur – the son of one of Lula's five children, Sandro Luis – is to take place at noon at the Jardim da Colina Cemetery, in São Bernardo do Campo, the place where the old burial is buried Marisa Letícia. , died in February 2017.

Lula, 73,
He obtained an exit permit to attend the funeral. Unlike previous similar requests, prosecutors in the state of Paraná have expressed their support for the request of the leader of the Left Labor Party (PT), jailed since last April, sentenced to 12 years in prison for corruption and money laundering of money in a case related to Operation Lava Jato. Yesterday afternoon, Judge Carolina Lebbos of the 12th Federal Court of Curitiba approved the trip.

This is the second time that Lula has left the headquarters of the federal police in Curitiba: the first took place in November, when he was brought to testify in a court of first instance in Curitiba.

Lula "is very sad," said the chairman of the Workers Party (PT), Gleisi Hoffmann, who visited him yesterday. "He never expected such news, he said that it should be forbidden for a father to bury his son, to a grandfather to bury his little- son."

The law. The Criminal Prosecution Act provides that persons who are sentenced to a closed regime may be allowed to leave the prison, under escort, in the event of the death or serious illness of a spouse, a parent, or other Parent ascending or descending, brother or sister.

However, last month, on the death of one of Lula's brothers, Genival, the federal police, the prosecution and the federal judge
they did not allow his departure to go to the funeral: the permit was granted at the last minute, a few minutes before the funeral, by the Federal Supreme Court.

"They did not let me say goodbye to Vavá by pure pain," Lula said on the occasion.

Since he was imprisoned in Curitiba, the former president has been regularly visited by his relatives; his grandson Arthur had been there twice.