Brazil top court suspends ex-president Lula’s move to Sao Paulo jail

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s Supreme Court on Wednesday
suspended a lower court decision to transfer imprisoned former
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from the southern city of
Curitiba to a penitentiary in the state of Sao Paulo.

Lula, as the leftist leader is known, was convicted in 2017 of
taking a bribe from an engineering firm in return for help landing
contracts with state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA.

After losing an appeal, he was arrested in April of last year,
following a dramatic standoff between police and his supporters in
Greater Sao Paulo. He was taken to Curitiba, where the corruption
probe was based, to serve a 12-year sentence.

The former president is being held in a cell within the federal
police headquarters in Curitiba. However, police complained in a
motion seen by Reuters that overseeing Lula’s imprisonment was
diverting significant time and resources, as well as
inconveniencing city residents.

A federal judge authorized his transfer and a separate judge in
Sao Paulo state decided later that Lula would serve the remainder
of his sentence at a penitentiary in the town of Tremembé, 170
kilometers (105 miles) from Sao Paulo.

Ten of the 11 justices on the Supreme Court, however, overruled
the transfer and decided Lula should stay in Curitiba until they
can judge other pending appeals filed by his lawyers seeking his
release.

Lula, 73, has been convicted in one other bribery case and has
been indicted in seven other corruption investigations.

Brazil’s first working class president served two terms from
2003 to 2011, when he oversaw robust economic growth and falling
inequality during a commodities boom. The corruption conviction
damaged his reputation, and he was prohibited from running in
Brazil’s 2018 election, even as he retains a sizeable base of
supporters.

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