The UN Human Rights Committee concluded on Thursday that the right of former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had been violated. to be judged by an impartial tribunal in the Lava Jato anti-corruption operation.
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The body of 18 independent experts, based in Geneva, analyzed a complaint that had been filed by the defense of the leftist, who was president between 2003 and 2010.
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“The Committee considers that (…) the events that occurred (…) demonstrated that the objective element of the impartiality requirement was not met,” according to the non-binding decision.
The UN experts concluded that their “political rights” and “privacy” and urged Brazil to ensure that other pending criminal proceedings against Lula comply with the guarantees of “due legal process” to prevent “similar violations” in the future.
What happened?
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2010) was investigated and convicted in the Lava Jato anti-corruption operation from 2016 due to his alleged involvement in two cases of diversion of funds in the state oil company Petrobras.
In April 2018, Lula began serving a sentence in a prison in Curitiba (south), where he spent 580 days, until November 2019. He regained his political rights in March 2021, when a judge of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) annulled the anti-corruption convictions.
Who was involved?
The Human Rights Committee highlighted that the then Judge Sergio Moro, who put Lula on trial in the first instance, was biased in the process and that his statements and those of the prosecutors violated the right to the presumption of innocence.
Moro, who was then President Jair Bolsonaro’s Minister of Justice for 15 months, sentenced Lula to nine years in prison in July 2017, and the following year, the sentence was increased to 12 years by an appeal court.
What happened to the former president?
Last year, the Federal Supreme Court annulled all the sentences that weighed against Lula due to jurisdictional irregularities and ordered to restart the trials in courts of Brasilia, which have already filed all the processes.
The decision allowed Lula to recover his political rights and, with it, the possibility of running again for the Brazilian Presidency, something that is being considered for the next elections in October.
For his part, the former president posted on his twitter: “Today I am very happy, the decision of the UN court cleansed my soul. And I just want the press, who spread so many lies about me, to apologize and admit that they were misled by Moro and (Deltan) Dallagnol.”
What is the outlook for the presidential elections?
This year, the leader of the Workers’ Party will be a candidate in the October election to try to become president for the third time.
Different polls show Lula as the favorite against Bolsonaro for the electionsalthough the latest polls show that the president has closed the gap.
Lula is emerging as the clear favorite for the elections, with an intention to vote close to 45%, compared to the 30% that the current president, Jair Bolsonaro, would obtain.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from AFP and Efe.
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