Banned from office
The predicament in which former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro finds himself in after Brazil’s election judges banned him from running for public office for the next eight years is largely of his own making.
Brazil former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was convicted for a second time on charges of corruption and money laundering and sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison.
On Wednesday, Lula was found guilty by a court in the southern city of Curitiba of accepting renovation work by two construction companies on a farmhouse in exchange for ensuring they won contracts with the state-run oil company Petrobras.
He was given a sentence of 12 years and 11 months by the court in the southern city of Curitiba.
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In April 2018, Lula was serving a sentence of 12 years and 11 months after being convicted on the same charges involving renovations at a beach-front apartment paid for by construction companies.
Earlier this month, Lula was released from prison in Curitiba, southern Brazil.
In June this year, the supreme court had rejected two habeas corpus requests by Lula – who has been imprisoned on a corruption conviction for over a year – while postponing debate on the behaviour of a former judge who convicted the leader and was now the South American nation’s Justice Minister.
In Brazil, a case can be appealed three times — to the local court, the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) and the STF.
The 73-year-old, who ruled Brazil between 2003 and 2010, has denied all the charges against him, claiming they were politically motivated with the aim of preventing him from competing in the election last year that was won by current far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.
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