'US Businesses Rewarding Judge Moro for Jailing Lula,' Says Brazilian Lawmaker

Brazilian congresswoman, Erika Kokay, has criticized judge Sergio Moro for traveling to New York City to receive the “Man of the Year” award from Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce and has said Moro's ties to United States based businesses and officials are a cause for concern. 

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“It's strange that United States companies are rewarding a Brazilian judge when we know that the coup (against former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and imprisonment of her predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva) has often disguised itself and that the coup has particularly favored United States businesses,” said Kokay. “So, maybe this is an obvious demonstration of the relationships with Moro with the interests of United States businesses.”

The congresswoman, who is affiliated with the Workers' Party, said Moro's judicial track record and history, on a daily basis, wounds the country's judicial code of ethics. She stressed that the judge “incessantly” adheres to claims made in Brazil's corporate media and has acted “on several occasions,” in contravention to the constitution and “doesn't maintain impartiality.”

Kokay said Brazil's mainstream media had made a “national hero out of a great destroyer of the rule of law.”

She went on to note that he “lacks judgments based on justice when he decides to allow himself to be the recipient of awards alongside politicians who represent political positions and who have benefited” from his decisions.

Union workers and demonstrators protested against Moro and in favor of Lula outside of the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce before the judge was awarded the “Man of the Year” award. Some held banners that read “Free Lula” and “Moro Criminal of the Year.”

During the event, a photo was taken of Moro with former Sao Paulo mayor and current Sao Paulo gubernatorial candidate, Joao Doria, a key ally of president Michel Temer.

Moro was the judge, who initially charged Lula with corruption, convicted the former head of state and issued the warrant for his arrest.

The event in New York “shows who Sergio Moro really is,” Kokay said. “The Car Wash (investigations) have contributed very little to combating corruption, because it demonstrates selectivity and reissues torture (threats of extended prison sentences) to wrench confessions, which, at this point, creates a mantle of impunity.”

Despite being convicted on alleged corruption charges and imprisoned since April 7, events that many legal experts and observers attribute to lawfare and a salacious mainstream media campaign, Lula has topped every 2018 electoral poll conducted by Vox Populi, Ibope, Datafolha, Data Poder 360, Instituto Parana, the National Confederation of Transportation/MDA and Ipsos.

His two-terms in office marked by a slew of social programs, lifting millions of Brazilians out of poverty and removing the country from the United Nations World Hunger Map. He left office with a record approval rating of 83 percent in 2011, according to Datafolha.