A Brazilian regional court maintained, this Wednesday, the sentencing of former President Lula da Silva to 17 years and a month in prison, in a case about a farm in Atibaia, in the interior of São Paulo.
The judges of the Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region (TRF-4) denied, through a virtual session, the appeals presented by the defense of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, maintaining the sentence in second instance dictated in November last year, of 17 years and a month in prison, in a closed regime, the heaviest sentence imposed on the former head of state.
Lula was convicted of passive corruption and money laundering for possession and reforms carried out on a farm in the city of Atibaia, in the state of São Paulo, which were allegedly executed as payment of bribes by construction companies OAS and Odebrecht.
The appeal of the defense of the historic leader of the Workers’ Party (PT) asked for the revision of doubts or contradictions in the sentence.
The judges also denied a request from Lula’s defense, which sought to postpone the trial, in order to ensure that it took place in person, so that the defense could participate.
Lula’s lawyers claimed that statements made by the Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, and the former Lava Jato judge and former Minister of Justice, Sergio Moro, reinforce the suspicion that the former magistrate was not exempt to judge Lula.
“There are several facts that show the suspicion of ex-judge Sergio Moro and, consequently, compromise of the entire instruction of this process. Among the notes, is the fact that the ex-judge joined the Bolsonaro Government with the stated commitment to take a seat in the Supreme Federal Court “, indicated the request, presented by the defense of the former head of state.
The application, which the online magazine Conjur, which specializes in legal issues, had access to, makes reference to a statement made by Bolsonaro on April 24, while seeking to challenge charges made by Moro hours earlier., about attempts to interfere with the Federal Police.
On the occasion, Jair Bolsonaro accused Sergio Moro of conditioning the exoneration of former Federal Police chief Maurício Valeixo to his appointment as judge of the Supreme Federal Court (STF).
The arguments were not accepted unanimously by the TRF-4 judges.
Shortly after the decision, Lula da Silva’s lawyers issued a statement, accusing the TRF-4 of “ignoring evidence of innocence” from the former President of Brazil, adding that the decision is “unjust and arbitrary”
The defense also said it would appeal the decision.
This is Lula’s second sentence in the second instance in the Lava Jato anti-corruption operation in Curitiba.
In early 2018, Lula da Silva was sentenced to 12 years in prison for passive corruption and money laundering after being found guilty of receiving a luxury apartment in the city of Guarujá, on the coast of the Brazilian state of São Paulo, in exchange for favors. politicians to the OAS construction company.
However, the Superior Court of Justice reduced the sentence to eight years and 10 months. The former President was arrested in April 2018 for this conviction.
The former head of state spent 580 days in prison and has been on probation since November last year, after the Supreme Federal Court reversed his understanding of prisons after the second instance conviction.
In addition to being convicted in these two cases of corruption, Lula da Silva faces at least seven other investigations.
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