Brazilian Supreme Court upheld the quashing of sentences against Lula da Silva

The Supreme Court of Brazil confirmed this Thursday the overturning of corruption convictions against Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, which restored the former leftist president’s right to stand in the 2022 presidential elections.

Eight of the eleven judges of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) supported the decision rendered in March by Magistrate Edson Fachin, who determined that The court in Curitiba which convicted Lula for two causes and treated him for two others was not competent to do so and that the former president had to be tried again by federal justice in Brasilia.

All these cases, in which Lula -75- has always pleaded not guilty, are linked to the Lava Jato investigates bribes paid to politicians to secure contracts with state-owned oil company Petrobras.

STF’s decision does not make Lula innocent, but it opens the door for the left-wing leader to challenge the 2022 elections to far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, his declared enemy, whom he has not yet decided or, at least, has not expressed publicly.

In one of the sentences, Lula was convicted by former judge Sergio Moro in 2017 of corruption and money laundering as the beneficiary of an apartment on the coast of São Paulo offered by a construction company.

After being convicted at second instance, in 2018, he was detained for 18 months and expelled from the presidential race won by Bolsonaro.

“STF confirms Lula’s rights! Historic day. It took, but it came! There is still a lot to put in place, but Moro’s incompetence was the fundamental step for this, the defense’s first request ”, wrote the president of the Workers’ Party (PT), Glesi Hoffmann.

Next Thursday, the eleven magistrates will also judge the decision taken in March by a chamber of the tribunal de grande instance to declare former judge Moro “partial” during the dictation of this sentence for which the former left-wing president went to prison.

This failure involved a new setback to Lava Jato, of which Moro was the main figure and who sent dozens of prominent businessmen and politicians from almost all parties to prison.

And this has political implications, because Moro ended up being Bolsonaro’s justice minister, until he left office after opposing the president, and many analysts put him in the presidential race in 2022.

With information from AFP

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