Postpone the decision on Lula | The Supreme Court …

From Rio de Janeiro

After four sessions of very long statements (yesterday, for example, the vote of magistrate Rosa Weber lasted exactly one hour and nineteen minutes), after six o'clock in the afternoon yesterday, the President of the Court federal supreme, José Antonio Toffoli Days, announced that the sessions were suspended, which should resume the first week of November. The court is concerned whether an accused person may remain at liberty until his conviction is upheld in the third instance or it results in a conviction ratified by an appeal chamber. The release or not of the former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva depends on the decision of the majority of the high court.

Initially, it was determined that the recovery takes place on Wednesday the sixth. It is impossible to predict how many sessions will be necessary: ​​one of the magistrates who did not vote, Celso de Mello, usually prepare very long votes and further discussions are expected.

When the trial was suspended, the result was four favorable votes for the execution of a sentence before all appeals have been exhausted, and three favorable votes to comply with the provisions of the Penal Code and the Constitution, that is to say that no one (except under very specific conditions, such as crimes considered extreme, such as murder, rape or torture) is imprisoned until the sentence is pronounced.

The votes of four magistrates of the Supreme Court are missing. In any event, two of them have already planned to vote for the claim that resources must be depleted before someone is imprisoned.

The third vote, which was not anticipated but easily predictable, corresponds to the magistrate Carmen Lucia, chaired by the Federal Supreme Court: she has always voted for a second conviction involving the incarceration of the accused.

Who did not anticipate his vote is precisely the president of the court, Dias Toffoli, who will be the last to vote. Hoping that there will be a tie vote of five votes per side, his will will be decisive. For the events known so far, it is likely that it suggests an intermediate exit, determining the imprisonment when there is a decision of the court. Superior Court of Justiceimmediately below the Federal Supreme Court.

If the middle position prevails, that is to say if the other judges accept the proposal that could be presented by Dias Toffoli, the situation of Lula will not change: last April, the Superior Court of Justice rejected the Call the former president and maintained his sentence.

The defense strategy of the former president, in any case, is more daring. Based on the information disclosed by the digital publication L & # 39; interception, by the American journalist Glenn Greenwald, and who show that the trial of Lula was fully manipulated by the then judge and the current Bolonarist minister, Sergio Moro, his intention is that the process be canceled and to start over.

Apart from all this discussion, the actions of the last days of those who have condemned Lula da Silva clearly show that it is to anticipate a defeat before the Supreme Court with measures to free the l & rsquo; Former president. The judge responsible for the execution of the sentence has already been requested to let him go into semi-open regime and the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office is now requesting the cancellation of a second trial which had him already convicted at first instance.

This second lawsuit refers to an area that Lula used with his family on weekends and whose real owner – declared and proven – is the son of one of the best friends of the former president. The excuse for condemning him is that in the reform of the square, there were engineers and officials appointed by construction companies denounced during the so-called "Operation Lava Jato", which would constitute acts of corruption.

One detail reinforces the idea that each trial conducted so far is part of a great joke: the deputy judge of Moro did not hesitate to copy literally and, without the slightest care to conceal, large parts of the sentence previous. The plagiarism was so strong that the same prosecutor's office is now asking for the trial to be canceled.

Lula, however, wants more: he repeats that he demands that his absolute innocence be declared and that as long as it does not happen, he will refuse to leave prison. Anyway, the general feeling that before 2019 ends Lula da Silva will be free.