SAO PAULO, April 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Since entering prison a year ago,
Brazil’s former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been spending his
days working out in his cell and fighting to prove his innocence.
The 73-year-old leftist icon, who has been sentenced to 25 years behind
bars in two separate corruption cases, remains determined to challenge the
“injustices” he has suffered, said Gleisi Hoffmann, head of the Workers Party that Lula founded.
“From the political point of view… he remains strong,” Hoffmann said as
Lula prepares to mark one year in jail in the southern city of Curitiba on
Sunday.
Lula has denied all the charges against him, claiming they were
politically motivated with the aim of preventing him competing in elections
last year that were won by Brazil’s new far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.
During his election campaign, Bolsonaro said he hoped Lula would “rot in
prison.”
Lula has been allowed to leave jail twice in the past 12 months — once
for the funeral of his seven-year-old grandson, whose death Hoffmann said had left the former president “shattered, very sad.”
The other time was to give evidence in court.
Lula, who served two terms as head of state between 2003 and 2010, also
spends time reading and writing letters that his party publishes, and
watching his beloved Corinthians football team from Sao Paulo on television.
On Thursday, Lula suffered another setback when the Supreme Court
indefinitely delayed debate on whether a prisoner convicted of a non-violent crime should be released before the end of their appeals process, which could have potentially freed him.
Lula is running out of options.
He is awaiting the outcome of a second appeal to review his first
conviction on bribery and money laundering charges, which put him jail in the first place for just over 12 years.
Lula is also appealing the second sentence of almost 13 years handed down
in February for accepting renovation work by two construction companies on a farmhouse in exchange for ensuring they won contracts with the state-run oil company Petrobras.
Representatives of the Workers Party are expected to join dozens of Lula
fans on Sunday who have maintained a vigil at the prison gates since the
politician was jailed.
They hope to breathe new life into the flagging “free Lula” campaign. — NNN-AGENCIES
