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News > Latin America

Brazil: Lula Absolved of Obstruction of Justice Charges, but Kept in Prison

  • Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

    Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. | Photo: Reuters

Published 12 July 2018
Opinion

Former international director of Petrobras, Nestor Cervero, said Lula never asked him for any type of favoritism.

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been absolved of the charge of obstruction of justice by judge Ricardo Leito of the 10th Federal Court of Brasilia.

RELATED: 
Brazil: Imprisoned Lula Maintains Lead in Presidental Polls

Lula was accused by former senator Delcidio do Amaral of attempting to impede or alter the testimony of former international director of Petrobras, Nestor Cervero, who was sentenced to prison on charges of corruption and money laundering in the Car Wash investigations. However, Brazil's state prosecution requested that he be absolved of the accusation.

Do Amaral's accusation against Lula came during a plea bargain deal with attorney Marcelo Miller. As a result of his testimony, do Amaral was releaed from prison.

Cervero said, during his own testimony, that Lula never asked him for any type of favoritism.

Despite being absolved of this instance, Lula remains in prison, where he has been held since April 7, over alleged charges of corruption that investigators have yet to provide evidence for.

The news comes just days after Appeal judge Rogerio Favreto of the Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region based in Porto Alegre accepted a habeas corpus request filed by Lula's Workers' Party and ordered that he be released.

However, the court's president judge Thompson Flores ruled that the case returns to appeal judge Joao Pedro Gebran Neto, therefore, the decision to maintain Lula in prison remains valid.

Despite his imprisonment, an event 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 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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