A federal judge has ordered former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil to surrender to the authorities by Friday afternoon to start serving a 12-year prison sentence on a corruption conviction.
The warrant was issued hours after the country’s top court rejected da Silva’s bid to remain free while appeals of the conviction were considered.
A federal judge, Sérgio Moro, wrote in the arrest warrant that da Silva would be held in a special cell, outside of the general prison population, in consideration of the “dignity of the office he held.” da Silva will be allowed to surrender to the federal police in the southern city of Curitiba, where his trial was held, Judge Moro said. He set Friday at 5 p.m. as the deadline.
da Silva’s Workers’ Party remained defiant on Thursday, vowing that he would still run for a third term in October, despite the Supreme Federal Court’s 6-to-5 ruling early Thursday that he could not remain free pending further appeals.
da Silva’s imminent imprisonment also sends a chilling message to other prominent political figures caught up in corruption investigations. The threat of jail time has been one of the most important tools in the large-scale investigation known as Lava Jato, or Car Wash, which has ensnared not only da Silva, but also dozens of business and political leaders, including President Michel Temer.
Last July, da Silva was convicted on corruption and money laundering charges and sentenced to almost 10 years in prison. The Supreme Federal Court, in denying Mr. da Silva’s request to remain free, upheld a 2016 ruling that allows trial judges to jail defendants after an initial appeal has been rejected.
Source : The New York Times
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