Brazil's ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday lashed out against his imprisonment for corruption but the government rejected his claim to have been victim of a farce and a judge stripped him of presidential privileges. In a column in French newspaper Le Monde, Lula called his conviction and 12 year sentence for graft a judicial farce and said that presidential elections would be unfair without his participation.
Brazil on Wednesday lashed out at a demand by former European leaders for disgraced ex-president Lula da Silva to be allowed to take part in elections this year. A group of former EU left leaning leaders, including French ex-president Francois Holland and Spanish former prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, called Lula's imprisonment for corruption hurried and said he should be free to present himself before Brazilian voters.
Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reiterated on Thursday his intention to run for a third presidential term. Lula was jailed on April 7 and is serving a sentence of 12 years and one month for corruption and money laundering.
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven has been summoned to testify next month as a witness in a Brazilian corruption case involving the purchase of fighter jets by Brazil, the Stockholm District Court said on Wednesday. Lofven will be asked in a Swedish court about his contacts with Brazil’s former presidents Dilma Rousseff and Lula da Silva regarding the country’s purchase of Saab Gripen fighters in a deal struck five years ago.
Joaquim Barbosa, a former chief justice on Brazil's Supreme Court with anti-corruption credentials, said on Tuesday he would not run for the presidency in October, despite a growing clamor for his candidacy. Barbosa, the first and only black member of the high court, had in recent weeks positioned himself as a potential center-left candidate. He was attractive to many because of his clean image and background as a judge who battled corruption.
Brazil's highest court voted on Thursday to restrict a legal protection afforded to federal lawmakers that critics say has resulted in impunity, as the country grapples with massive official corruption. The protection known as “privileged standing” allows tens of thousands of politicians to have cases against them tried in higher courts than a normal citizen would.
Brazilian former president Dilma Rousseff will be joining May first Labor Day activities in Argentina, and participate of a special ceremony at the Argentine unions federation umbrella organization, CGT.
Imprisoned former Brazilian President Lula da Silva, along with the current leader of the Workers Party he founded, was hit on Monday with fresh corruption charges by federal prosecutors.
A man was seriously wounded early on Saturday when a gunman opened fire on a vigil in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba, where former president Lula da Silva is serving time for corruption, his party said.
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court (STF) is to vote on a motion starting May 4 that could potentially release ex-president Lula da Silva from prison, the court said. Lula's defense team hopes to overturn a decision by Sergio Moro, a federal judge and head of a key corruption investigation that determined he had to begin serving a 12-year sentence for accepting bribes.