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Brazilian judge Carolina Lebbos has rejected a request from Mercosur's Parliament, or Parlasur, deputies to visit former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the federal police headquarters in Curitiba.
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The request to visit Lula was made by the Human Rights Commission of Parlasur, which sought to review the prison conditions of the former head of state, after he was imprisoned on alleged passive corruption and money laundering.
"(There are) no human rights violations or threats in relation to which the diligence requested is based," Lebbos argued in her decision to reject the visit.
Lebbos' decision was not a one-off. She previously denied over 20 visitation requests, including, request from: Adolfo Perez Esquivel (Nobel Peace Prize recipient); Dilma Rousseff (former Brazilian President); Celso Amorim (former Minister of Foreign Affairs); Raduan Nassar (author); Eleonora Allgayer Canto de Lucena (journalist and former director of Folha de Sao Paulo); and Martinho da Vila (singer and composer).
Lula has been held in solitary confinement at the federal police headquarters in Curitiba since April 7. Brazil Supreme Court magistrates have until Thursday to rule on an appeal, which argues that his detention is unconstitutional. Brazil's constitution stipulates that nobody can be imprisoned until all of their legal resources to contest their conviction have been completely exhausted.
Despite his imprisonment, an event that many legal experts and observers attribute to lawfare and a salacious mainstream media campaign, he has also topped every 2018 electoral poll conducted by Vox Populi, Ibope, Datafolha, Data Poder 360, Instituto Parana, the National Confederation of Transportation/MDA and Ipsos.
Lula's two terms in office were 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.
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