MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Lula da Silva denies all charges in court; “I have been a victim for three years”
Brazil's former president has appeared in court to deny allegations he was part of a plot to obstruct a massive corruption probe by keeping a former Petrobras executive from revealing what he knew. News media websites in Brazil published Tuesday's testimony by Lula da Silva, who told a federal court in Brasilia that he didn't even know Nestor Cervero, a former director of the State oil company. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesDo you really mean that he is still not in jail? WHY?
Mar 15th, 2017 - 01:41 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Perhaps because people cannot be condemned unheard.
Mar 15th, 2017 - 03:09 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“Lula's lawyers claim Conserino tried to stain the former president's integrity.
They bring up the fact that the prosecutor abandoned the entire suit after a court ruling determined that the part of the suit concerning Lula would be under the jurisdiction of judge Sergio Moro, in the state of Paraná. Lula's lawyers also claim that the prosecutor called the former president an ”enchanter of the ignorant”’
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/brazil/2017/01/1849547-lula-sues-sao-paulo-based-prosecutor-and-demands-r-1-million-in-damages.shtml
Assuming that every politician is either a crook OR a potential crook; of course, NOBODY should be jailed unheard and without concrete proofs of the crimes but even the hearing is getting delayed - endlessly AND without explanations! WHY?
Mar 15th, 2017 - 04:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Bonehead
Mar 15th, 2017 - 06:24 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“Even the hearing is getting delayed - endlessly AND without explanations! WHY?
‘Iustitiam iustitiam tardaret est negandum’’Justice delayed, justice denied’ is a legal maxim.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_delayed_is_justice_denied
How reliable are these plea bargains, really? If people are getting much shorter sentences for accusing others, especially the powerful and famous, that sounds an awful lot like a witch hunt. Do they require any other evidence to convict someone?
Mar 15th, 2017 - 07:41 pm - Link - Report abuse 0One crook telling on the others [with insufficient proof]: 350 new graft probes after Odebrecht testimony: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-corruption-prosecutor-exclusiv-idUSKBN16M2M9
Mar 15th, 2017 - 08:46 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Testimony is normally an issue of fact. Usually if there is material support like a recording of some sort then it’s viewed as conclusive. Without such confirmation it's usually viewed as insufficient and a defendant is supposed to be given the benefit of the doubt.
Mar 15th, 2017 - 10:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 0IN SHORT:
Mar 16th, 2017 - 10:50 am - Link - Report abuse 0After “ENSURING” the Financial Crisis - “Petrobras, the world's most indebted oil company, with its $123 billion in debt” [REF: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/court-overturns-freeze-on-petrobras-asset-sales-2017-03-16] - the crooks will safely escape with almost all of their loot AND on the top of it, will get Legal Protection and SPECIAL Privileges to cover-up their “misdeeds”!
NO doubt, as mentioned earlier; VERY S00N, Brazil will be a HEAVEN for the corrupt [Politicians, Entrepreneurs + the Crime-Syndicates]. ANY Financial Crime will no longer be a crime: REF: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/court-overturns-freeze-on-petrobras-asset-sales-2017-03-16] | And ALL the Investigations + “Operations” will OFFICIALLY be famous as: “Very Expensive Toilet Papers”!
Bonehead
Mar 16th, 2017 - 01:16 pm - Link - Report abuse 0How does your xenophobic rant against Brazil in anyway implicate Lula or anyone else. Other, than exposing who and what you really are all about.
The “Good News” is Brazil is making progress by leaps & bounds!
Mar 16th, 2017 - 06:53 pm - Link - Report abuse 0https://twitter.com/TheInterceptBr/status/842441335391031296
Mar 17th, 2017 - 01:55 am - Link - Report abuse 0@DT
Mar 20th, 2017 - 04:34 pm - Link - Report abuse 0If those who resort to plea bargains cannot prove their claims, then the plea bargain falls apart and the whistleblower does his full time in prison.
As to Lula, he is as innocent as all his cronies who are already in prison....it's just a matter of time before he joins them. Odebrecht will see to that.
@JB
Mar 20th, 2017 - 07:58 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I hope you are right. With so many accusations flying around, there is a risk that investigation and trials take so long the guilty get off, or else that to avoid this the judges are not as careful as they should be and convict the innocent. It must be difficult to deal with this huge volume of cases.
@DT
Mar 21st, 2017 - 06:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The problem is when the defendant has privileged status (politician in office) and his case has to be referred to the Supreme Court.....in the past, many politicians got off, scott -free because the court was simply unable to handle the volume (or was 'encouraged' by the politicians, to ensure their case went to the bottom of the pile) and crimes prescribed....In Lula's case, since today, he is just an ordinary citizen, his cases will go to Moro in Curitiba, and two other 1st instance Federal judges in SP and in Brasilia.
Given that when a judge acted contrary to rule of law and in a very biased way against Lula, he was not estopped further. The fact that he has been arbitrarily detained twice by the police. “Lula is bringing his case at the UN because he cannot get justice in Brazil under its inquisitorial system,” said high-profile British human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson.
Mar 21st, 2017 - 09:45 pm - Link - Report abuse 0”The same judge who is invading his privacy in this case can have him arrested at any moment and will then become his trial judge, deciding on his guilt or innocence without a jury. This is a serious fault in the inquisitorial system as it operates in Brazil.”“Judge Moro released recorded conversations of the former president with family members, his lawyer and other politicians, including Ms. Rousseff. The conversations with Ms. Rousseff have been invalidated as evidence by Brazil’s top court.””After Lula was interrogated, Supreme Court Justice Marco Aurélio Mello publicly questioned Judge Sérgio Moro’s decision to make the interrogation coercive, meaning that the police came unannounced to Lula’s residence and demanded that he accompany them to a secure location for questioning.
Aurélio Mello said that coercive interrogations were usually employed only when the suspect or witness refused to testify voluntarily, something that did not apply in Lula’s case” “Indefinite detention has been used to force people to testify, as in the case of Odebrecht CEO Marcelo Odebrecht, who has been held for almost nine months so far. Similarly, plea bargains can allow self-interested witnesses to shift responsibility…
That all sounds pretty dodgy. No jury, and the judge who investigates also decides who is guilty. Can the accused at least appeal the case to some other court?
Mar 22nd, 2017 - 10:49 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“The submission of new evidence by former UN appeal judge, Human Rights barrister Geoffrey Robertson QC, Cristiano Zanin Martins and Valeska Teixeira Zanin Martins, Lula’s lawyers, follows the original petition filed at the United Nations on 28th July 2016 which was registered by the United Nations Human Rights Committee on 26th October 2016.
Mar 23rd, 2017 - 01:20 am - Link - Report abuse 0The violations by the judicial system outlined to the United Nations in the July petition have continued. There is no impartial judge and the judiciary haven’t observed the presumption of innocence. The Brazilian judiciary system has taken no effective measure to stop these violations. With the first hearings scheduled for next week, additional evidence of violations will be submitted regarding Judge Moro’s unfitness to be the trial judge including:
– Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which ensures presumption of innocence, continues to be violated. This was illustrated on 14th September by Operation Car Wash Task Force prosecutors holding a press conference broadcasted nationwide to accuse Lula –without any evidence– of being the leader of a criminal organization and treating him as a convicted person. Violations to Article 14 which ensures a fair and impartial trial including evidence of Judge Moro acting as the accuser not as a judge as well as denying Lula’s right to utilze independent expert account.”
“The U.N. accepted the case that Judge Moro violated former President Lula da Silva's presumption of innocence and detained him arbitrarily.
Moro acknowledged that Lula and his family do not own property that investigators thought belonged to the politician, dashing claims they were bought with money allegedly obtained through illegal contracts with Petrobras.”
@DT
Mar 24th, 2017 - 07:16 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Nothing dodgy. Only murder cases call for a jury. If the toad is convicted by Moro, who has given/is giving him and his lawyers all the necessary freedom to defend himself, he can appeal to the 2nd instance Federal court ....if the conviction is not overturned - unlikely given the tons of proof that has surfaced - the toad will go to prison...if he wants to keep on appealing after that, he can, but it'll just be a waste of time.
January 26, 2017
Mar 24th, 2017 - 09:10 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“.. that there is no minimum support to back the information against our client, which was filed by the Federal Attorney’s Office on 12/14/2016 and accepted by the Court on December 19th, based on the ownership of two properties …The accusations are vague and generic and the accusation is downright speculative. In such artificial context, the Federal Attorney’s Office information accuses Lula of committing the crime of aggravated solicitation of bribery and money laundering, and Marisa Leticia of committing the crime of money laundering ..”
January 7, 2017
Only in a lawsuit oriented by “lawfare”, would the Judge find suitable to authorize the production of official evidence in favor of the prosecution and deny the rebuttal evidence requested by the defense. That is what happened once again in the so called “three story apartment lawsuit” filed against former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.”
The only evidence is that Lula is paying rent, THERE IS NO EVIDENCE OF OWNERSHIP, the whole case is a ‘fishing expedition’ which supports the defence contention that the only purpose is to prevent Lula running for the presidency.
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