Brazil's jailed ex-leader Lula da Silva could be freed following top court vote
Brazil's Supreme Court has voted to end mandatory imprisonment of convicted criminals after they lose their first appeal, restoring the previous rule that they should be allowed to exhaust all their appeal options before being locked up.
The politically charged re-interpretation of the country's penal code could lead to the release of dozens of high-profile convicts, including former leftist president Luiz "Lula" da Silva, jailed last year for alleged corruption.
By a 6-5 vote, the court overturned a three-year-old rule that contributed to the success of Brazil's biggest corruption investigation, the so-called Car Wash (Lava Jato) operation, led by former judge and current Justice Minister Sérgio Moro, that put dozens of company executives and politicians in jail for bribes and kickbacks.
Lula, 74, was jailed in April 2018 for an eight-year sentence after he was found guilty of taking bribes from engineering firms in return for government contracts, and money laundering.
Lacking material evidence, his conviction was based solely on testimony from jailed contractors.
The $700,000 apartment Lula was alleged to have received from a contractor by way of a bribe, was put on the market by its real owner in June.
What's App and Telegram messages obtained by The Intercept confirmed longstanding suspicions of political animus against Lula and his center-left Workers' Party (PT) by Moro and the chief prosecutor in the Car Wash case, Deltan Dallagnol.
His lawyers are expected to swiftly file for his release at the lower court that convicted him.
At: https://www.smh.com.au/world/south-america/brazil-s-jailed-ex-leader-lula-could-be-freed-following-top-court-vote-20191108-p538pj.html
Former Brazilian President Lula da Silva, arguably his country's most prominent political prisoner, during an interview on April 26 - the first he was allowed to give since his imprisonment a year earlier.
Today's Supreme Court ruling, which ruled the mandatory imprisonment of convicts on losing their first appeal unconstitutional, opens the door for Lula's release from prison - though the far-right Jair Bolsonaro regime is expected to disregard the ruling in his case.
Convicted last year solely on testimony from a contractor kept in a rat-infested dungeon until he incriminated him, the UN considers his detention arbitrary.
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