Imprisonment of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was arrested on April 7, 2018, after the former president surrendered to the Federal Police of Brazil (PF) at the ABC Metalworkers' Union in São Bernardo do Campo, in Greater São Paulo, and lasted until November 8, 2019, after the Supreme Federal Court (STF) overturned the arrest, with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva having been imprisoned for 1 year, 7 months, and 1 day (580 days).^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

On March 8, 2021, Justice Edson Fachin overturned Lula's convictions related to Operation Car Wash, ruling that the Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region had tried the case outside its jurisdiction.^[6] More than a year later, on April 28, 2022, the United Nations Human Rights Committee published the conclusion of an analysis in which it pointed out that Sergio Moro had been biased in the trial of the cases against Lula.^[7][8][9]

On July 12, 2017, Sergio Moro, then a federal judge of first instance, sentenced Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to nine years and six months in prison for passive corruption and money laundering in a criminal case involving a triplex apartment in Guarujá, on the coast of the state of São Paulo.^[10][11] In the second instance, the sentence was increased to 12 years and one month, after a unanimous vote.^[12] Then, on April 5, Moro issued the arrest warrant.^[13] In April 2019, in a unanimous decision, the 5th Panel of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) upheld Lula's conviction and reduced the sentence for passive corruption and money laundering from 12 years and one month to eight years and ten months in prison.^[14] The triplex case was investigated as part of Operation Car Wash.^[15] Lula served his sentence in Curitiba, capital of Paraná, in the building of the Regional Superintendency of the Federal Police in Paraná.^[16] In August 2018, the United Nations Human Rights Committee requested that Brazil guarantee Lula the right to exercise his political rights while in prison, including access to members of his party and the media and participation in the 2018 presidential election in Brazil.^[17][18] The Brazilian Foreign Ministry questioned the Committee and referred the decision to the Judiciary.^[19]

On March 8, 2021, Justice Edson Fachin overturned Lula's convictions related to Operation Car Wash, ruling that the Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region had tried the case outside its jurisdiction, based on a previous decision by the Second Panel of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) in the case of Transpetro, a Brazilian company linked to Petrobras, responsible for fuel transportation and logistics, which operates in the import and export of oil and oil products, gas, and ethanol.^[20] It was determined that the case should be tried in Brasília. As a result, Lula regained his political rights and the legal proceedings against him were transferred to the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region.^[21][22] Subsequently, the Guarujá triplex case, which led to Lula's imprisonment, was dismissed by the court.^[23]

On April 28, 2022, the United Nations Human Rights Committee published the conclusion of an analysis in which it pointed out that Sergio Moro had been biased in the trial of the cases against Lula.^[24] According to the Committee's decision, Lula's political rights were violated in 2018 after he was prevented from participating in that year's presidential elections. The Committee determined that Brazil must present the measures adopted to repair the damage caused to the former president within 180 days and prevent other people from being targeted by similar proceedings in the future.^[25][26] Lula was the first former president of Brazil to be imprisoned for a conviction for a common crime.^[27] Before him, six other former presidents of the country were imprisoned: Hermes da Fonseca, Washington Luís, Artur Bernardes, Café Filho, Jânio Quadros, and Juscelino Kubitschek, all for explicit political reasons.^[28][29]

In 2010, the Rio de Janeiro newspaper O Globo published a report about an apartment in Guarujá that allegedly belonged to then-President Lula.^[30] At the time, there were no suspicions of illegality and construction on the property was behind schedule.^[31] Years later, in 2016, former President Lula came under investigation on suspicion of receiving payments from the Petrobras corruption scheme uncovered in Operation Car Wash.^[32] One of these investigations involved the apartment in Guarujá.^[31] On March 4, 2016, Lula was the target of a coercive subpoena and taken to testify at Congonhas Airport in São Paulo.^[33] In total, Lula was a defendant in ten criminal cases.^[34]

The São Paulo Public Prosecutor's Office filed charges against former President Lula, accusing him of being the hidden owner of a triplex apartment in Guarujá.^[35] However, the São Paulo court sent the case files to federal judge Sergio Moro in Curitiba, on the grounds that the crime fell under federal rather than state jurisdiction.^[36] On September 14, 2016, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office charged Lula and seven other people with corruption and money laundering.^[37] On September 20, 2016, Sergio Moro accepted the complaint and Lula became a defendant in Operation Car Wash. The indictment was related to three contracts between OAS and Petrobras and alleged that R$3.7 million in bribes had been paid to Lula.^[38]

After being charged, Lula gave a speech defending himself.^[33] In his speech, Lula criticized the charges, denied any wrongdoing, and challenged: “Prove that I am corrupt and I will walk to prison myself.”^[39] He also questioned the prosecutors of Operation Car Wash, saying that they had said “I have no proof, I have conviction” during the presentation of the charges.^[40] The phrase, attributed to prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol, was not actually said. The alleged phrase was a combination of statements made by two prosecutors at different moments during the presentation of the charges.^[41]

Lula's lawyers filed a lawsuit against prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol, seeking compensation for moral damages for the press conference given by Dallagnol in 2016 in which he used a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation to explain the charges against Lula.^[42] Initially, Dallagnol was acquitted in the first and second instances, but when the case reached the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), the court ordered Dallagnol to pay Lula 146,000 reais in damages.^[43] The ministers of the fourth panel of the STJ considered that Deltan Dallagnol exceeded the limits of his duties as a prosecutor by using language that discredited Lula's honor and image at the press conference, in addition to using non-technical language.^[44] The STJ ministers also considered that Dallagnol attributed to Lula facts that were not included in the complaint in the triplex case, as explained during the press conference.^[45][46] The Supreme Federal Court upheld the STJ's ruling, ordering Dallagnol to pay damages to Lula.^[47]

In 2016, Lula's defense team submitted a request to the United Nations (UN) to assess possible violations in the legal proceedings involving Lula under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Brazil is a signatory. In May 2018, the organization's Human Rights Committee stated that it would not take a final position until 2019, but denied precautionary measures against the former president's imprisonment.^[48]

On April 20, 2017, former OAS president Léo Pinheiro testified before Judge Sergio Moro, saying that the triplex did indeed belong to Lula and that the apartment had never been put up for sale by OAS because it was reserved for the former president. He also said that Lula himself had approved the design of the triplex and the ranch in Atibaia, which was investigated in another case. Lula's defense claimed that Léo Pinheiro was lying in order to try to secure a plea bargain.^[49] About a year earlier, the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo reported that Léo Pinheiro had told another version of the story, in which he exonerated Lula, but prosecutors considered this version implausible.^[50]

On May 10, 2017, Lula gave his testimony to Judge Sergio Moro about the triplex case. During the interrogation, which lasted almost five hours, the former president denied owning the apartment and said he never intended to purchase it.^[51] Lula said he only visited the triplex once to see what it was like and did not want to buy it.^[52] He also said that his wife, Marisa Letícia Lula da Silva, was interested in the property and that she had tried to purchase the apartment without telling him about it.^[53] The testimony had a major impact in Brazil and in the international press.^[54] In Curitiba, where the testimony was given, protesters held demonstrations for and against the former president throughout the day.^[55][56]

The triplex case was one of several cases in which Lula was involved. Lula was a defendant in ten criminal cases in total, including some in which he has already been acquitted or convicted. Some of these criminal cases are part of Operation Car Wash.^[57]

On July 12, 2017, federal judge Sergio Moro sentenced former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to nine years and six months in prison in the criminal case involving the triplex apartment, for the crimes of passive corruption and money laundering.^[86] The indictment referred to the concealment of ownership of a triplex penthouse in Guarujá, on the coast of São Paulo, received as a bribe from the construction company OAS in exchange for favors at Petrobras.^[87] Three months later, Lula gave a new statement to Sergio Moro, this time in a case involving the Lula Institute.^[88] During the testimony, Lula questioned Moro and said that he had not been judged impartially by him in the triplex case.^[89] Moro declined to comment and simply told Lula to question the triplex case in the court of appeals.^[90]

On January 24, 2018, in a trial that lasted more than eight hours and received international attention, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was convicted in the second instance.^[91] The sentence was unanimous among the three judges of the 8th Panel of the Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region (TRF-4), in Porto Alegre,^[92] in favor of upholding the previous conviction, which was 9 years and 6 months in prison for passive corruption and money laundering, and further extending the former president's prison sentence for passive corruption and money laundering in the case of the triplex apartment in Guarujá.^[93] The judges decided to extend the sentence to 12 years and 1 month in prison, to be served in a closed regime.^[93] The conclusions were that Lula received a bribe from a corruption scheme at Petrobras and that this bribe was delivered in the form of an apartment. The sentence would begin after all possible appeals within the TRF-4 itself had been exhausted. Even though he was convicted, he did not immediately lose the right to run in the 2018 elections, a decision that would be up to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).^[93][94] Lula's defense team and politicians close to him questioned the speed with which his case was processed in the TRF-4. The then president of the court, Thompson Flores, responded that speed is “a common feature of this court” and that “the time taken to process the appeal does not violate the principle of equality.”^[95][96][97]

According to the judge in charge of the case, João Pedro Gebran Neto, the evidence of Lula's involvement in passive corruption and money laundering in the Guarujá triplex case includes:^[98]

• Testimony from Leo Pinheiro, former president of OAS, and Agenor Franklin Magalhães Medeiros, director of OAS's Oil and Gas division, both defendants in the case;
• Private text messages from Leo Pinheiro referring to a project headed by a "boss" and a "madam", who were, respectively, Lula and his wife Marisa Letícia;
• Testimony from OAS employees and contractors hired to renovate the property, as well as from an employee of the Solaris building, regarding the construction work and the couple's visits to the triplex;
• Documents with erasures regarding a property in Guarujá, found at Lula's home and at Bancoop;
• Testimony from whistleblowers in the Lava Jato investigation, such as Alberto Youssef, Nestor Cerveró, and Paulo Roberto Costa, consistent with Leo Pinheiro's statements about corruption at Petrobras;

According to Gebran, the evidence that the apartment "was intended for Lula as a benefit" was "beyond reasonable doubt" and Lula was aware of what was happening, being a "guarantor of a larger scheme" and "acting behind the scenes", influencing Petrobras appointments.^[98] Gebran also rejected Lula's defense claim that there was no official act by the former president, citing votes from the Mensalão trial, and rejected the defense's appeal that the 13th Federal Court, presided over by Judge Sergio Moro, lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.^[98]

However, some analysts disagreed with the evidence presented, saying that it was more indicative of a possible crime than concrete proof, which would weaken the conviction.^{[99][100][101]} The former Minister of National Integration and 2018 presidential candidate, Ciro Gomes, took the same line and said that Lula was convicted based on "circumstantial evidence".^[102] Other analysts argued that the Guarujá triplex was indeed intended for Lula, but that it was not clear in the ruling what act of corruption he had committed.^[103] Journalist Reinaldo Azevedo, former columnist for Veja magazine and vocal critic of the Workers' Party (PT), defended Lula against Moro's accusations, stating that a reading of the case reveals the absence of such solid evidence, with the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office's complaint being ignored in crucial parts and the court decision resorting to broad and politicized interpretations, which would constitute a violation of the principle of presumption of innocence and due process of law.^{[86][104][105]}

After Lula's conviction in the second instance, the former president's defense team filed preventive habeas corpus petitions with the Superior Court of Justice and the Supreme Court in an attempt to prevent his imprisonment.

On March 6, 2018, the Superior Court of Justice unanimously rejected Lula's habeas corpus petition by a vote of 5 to 0.^[106]

On March 22, 2018, the STF accepted a request from the defense and granted the former president safe conduct—preventing Lula's arrest until the final ruling on the habeas corpus petition by the court itself on April 4.^[108] According to the STF's understanding of imprisonment in the second instance, the Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region could issue an arrest warrant against the former president after the last appeal was heard in court on March 26, 2018.^[109][110] However, the “Lula principle,” as it became known, prevented the TRF-4 from enforcing the prison sentence.^[108][111] The Supreme Court's decision was criticized by federal prosecutors and prosecutors from the Car Wash task force.^[112] On the night of April 3, the then commander of the Brazilian Army (EB), General Eduardo Villas Bôas, posted two messages on his Twitter profile that were understood as a threat to the STF not to grant Lula's habeas corpus petition.^{[113][114][115]} The following day, April 4, 2018, the Supreme Court, by a vote of 6 to 5, rejected Lula's habeas corpus petition, which would have allowed the former president to await his appeals in freedom after his conviction in the second instance.^[116] Justice Rosa Weber's vote was decisive in the rejection.^{[117][118][119]}

On April 5, 2018, after the Federal Supreme Court rejected the preventive habeas corpus, Federal Judge Sergio Moro ordered the imprisonment of Lula, who had been sentenced by the Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region (TRF-4) to 12 years and one month of imprisonment.^[13] The judge also defined special conditions for imprisonment due to the dignity of the office. According to the order, a reserved room was prepared at the Federal Police (PF) headquarters, where the former president would be separated from other prisoners, without any risk to his moral or physical integrity.^[121] Moro also gave Lula a deadline to surrender to the Federal Police in Curitiba: by 5 p.m. on April 6. Experts said at the time that Moro's arrest warrant against Lula had atypical characteristics.^[122] The former president's defense filed a new habeas corpus petition with the Superior Court of Justice to avoid his arrest, which was again denied.^[123]

Lula decided not to report to the Federal Police headquarters in Curitiba,^[124] and refused to leave the ABC Metalworkers' Union on April 6, 2018, when the arrest warrant issued by Moro for the former president expired.^[125][126] The Federal Police planned Lula's transportation in case he wanted to turn himself in at either the Federal Police headquarters in São Paulo or Curitiba.^[127]

As Lula did not turn himself in by the deadline, rumors began to circulate that he could be placed in preventive detention.^[128] After that, Lula decided to leave the union and turn himself in to the Federal Police the following day, April 7, after a Catholic mass in honor of Marisa Letícia, who had died in February 2017.^[129][130]

On the morning of April 7, Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin denied yet another habeas corpus petition to prevent the former president's arrest.^[131] Before leaving, Lula declared in a speech at the site that he intended to turn himself in to prove his innocence and avoid being considered a fugitive.^[132] He also said that he was not afraid of Moro, that the real reason for his arrest was his social policy, and concluded by stating that his legacy would continue after his imprisonment, as his ideas were still alive: “The more they attack me, the more my relationship with the Brazilian people grows,” he added.^[133][134]

Finally, on April 7, 2018, Lula surrendered to the Federal Police, who were waiting for him outside the union headquarters, after attempting to leave and being prevented from doing so by activists on several occasions.^[135][136] From there, he was taken to Curitiba in a small aircraft.^[137] Upon arriving in the capital of Paraná, he was taken by helicopter to his cell, a room at the Federal Police headquarters.^[138] By order of federal judge Sergio Moro, responsible for the Car Wash Operation cases in the lower court, the former president was imprisoned in a special 15-square-meter room.^[139] The space is located on the fourth floor of the Federal Police building and has a bed, desk, and private bathroom. A television was also authorized to be installed on site.^[139] Lula's imprisonment gave rise to the Free Lula movement.^{[140][141][142]}

On April 11, 2018, the Union of Federal Police Delegates of the State of Paraná (SinDPF/PR) requested, through an official letter sent to the Superintendence of the Federal Police, the transfer of former President Lula to a location that would offer better security conditions and that would not cause inconvenience or risks to the population and Federal Police employees.^[143] According to the union, the location where the former president was being held was used to provide services to the general public, such as issuing passports and criminal records. “Thus, every day, hundreds of people who visit these facilities need, for various and relevant reasons, security and efficiency in service,” said the union.^[144][145]

On May 10, 2018, the second panel of the STF unanimously denied the former president's request for release in the virtual trial.^[146] On May 15, STJ Minister Felix Fischer rejected a new habeas corpus petition filed by Lula's defense team.^[147][148] On the same day, the triplex apartment in Guarujá attributed to Lula was sold at auction for 2.2 million reais.^[149]

On July 11, 2018, the president of the STJ, Laurita Vaz, denied 143 requests for Lula's release.^[150] These requests were not made by the former president's defense team, but by ordinary citizens.^[150]

On November 1, 2018, shortly after the presidential elections, then-judge Sérgio Moro accepted an invitation from President-elect Jair Bolsonaro to serve as his Minister of Justice in the new administration.^[151] To take up the position of Minister of Justice, Moro stepped down as judge of Operation Car Wash.^[151] Lula's defense filed a habeas corpus petition with the Supreme Court questioning the act.^[152] In the petition, the defense argued that Moro's acceptance of the position of Minister of Justice under Bolsonaro demonstrated that the former judge had not acted impartially in Lula's case.^[152]

On December 19, 2018, Supreme Court Justice Marco Aurélio Mello granted an injunction ordering that all prisoners convicted in the second instance and with appeals pending in court should be released.^[153] The measure could have freed Lula from prison, and on the same day, the former president's defense team requested his release.^[154] However, on the same day, the president of the STF, Dias Toffoli, suspended the injunction.^[155] Toffoli argued that the issue of imprisonment after conviction in the second instance should be analyzed by the full STF in a session scheduled for 2019.^[155]

On January 29, 2019, Lula's brother, Genival Inácio da Silva, known as Vavá, died of cancer, and the former president requested permission to attend the funeral and speak with family members.^[156] Initially, federal judge Carolina Lebbos and TRF-4 judge Leandro Palsen denied permission to attend the funeral, but then STF President Dias Toffoli authorized Lula to leave prison to attend the ceremony and meet with his family.^[157][158] Despite the favorable decision, when Toffoli's authorization was issued, Vavá's body had already been buried. For this reason, Lula chose not to meet with his family and did not leave prison.^[159][160]

On February 21, 2019, Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin denied yet another request for Lula's release.^[161]

On March 1, 2019, federal judge Carolina Lebbos authorized Lula's release from prison to travel to São Bernardo do Campo, where he attended the funeral of his grandson, Arthur Araújo Lula da Silva, who died at the age of seven.^[162][163] Initially, it was reported that Arthur had died of meningitis, but medical tests confirmed that the cause of death was not meningitis, but rather a generalized infection.^[164] After the ceremony, Lula returned to the Federal Police headquarters in Curitiba.^[165]

On May 10, 2019, the former president's defense team requested that the STJ allow Lula to serve the remainder of his sentence under open conditions.^[166] On June 4, 2019, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office sent an opinion to the STJ, saying that Lula could serve the remainder of his sentence under a semi-open regime.^[167] But on September 23, 2019, Lula declared, through a statement released by his lawyers, that he had decided not to request a change in his prison regime.^[168]

On June 25, 2019, the second panel of the STF denied, by a vote of 4 to 1, another request for release made by Lula's defense team.^[169]

On August 7, 2019, Carolina Lebbos authorized Lula's transfer to a prison in São Paulo.^[170] On the same day, Judge Paulo Eduardo de Almeida Sorci, of the São Paulo state court, ruled that Lula should remain in the Tremembé prison, in the interior of São Paulo.^[171] Hours later, the former president's defense team appealed to the STF against the transfer. The Supreme Court, by a vote of 10 to 1, suspended Lula's transfer to São Paulo until the Court could review a request for the former president's release.^[172] In the request, the defense questioned the impartiality of Sergio Moro, who convicted Lula in the lower court.^[173]

In November 2018, when Lula was already in prison, the appeal filed by his lawyers against his conviction in the Guarujá triplex case reached the Superior Court of Justice (STJ).^[174] The defense alleged that there had been several violations of rights during the proceedings and requested Lula's acquittal or the annulment of his conviction. Justice Felix Fischer initially denied this request.^[174] The defense then appealed to the Fifth Panel of the STJ.^[174]

On April 23, 2019, the Fifth Panel reviewed the appeal and, by unanimous decision, upheld Lula's conviction in the triplex case. However, the justices reduced the sentence to 8 years, 10 months, and 20 days in prison, in addition to reducing the amount of the fine that the former president would have to pay as compensation.^[175] Justices Felix Fischer, Jorge Mussi, Reynaldo Soares da Fonseca, and Ribeiro Dantas participated in the trial.^[176] Justice Joel Ilan Paciornik did not participate in the decision because he recused himself.^[177]

On February 6, 2019, Lula was sentenced by Judge Gabriela Hardt, Moro's replacement, to 12 years and 11 months in prison in another case involving a ranch in the city of Atibaia, in the interior of São Paulo.^[178] In that case, Lula was accused of receiving kickbacks from OAS and Odebrecht through renovations to the ranch.^[179] On November 27, 2019, the Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region (TRF-4) in Porto Alegre ruled on Lula's appeal in the second instance and unanimously upheld the conviction in the ranch case and increased the sentence to 17 years, one month, and 10 days in prison.^[180] The former president's defense considered the conviction unfair and arbitrary. In an appeal, it said that the proceedings and the merits of the case had not been resolved, as the conviction stated that Lula had been convicted on the basis of the assertion that he "was the main orchestrator...of a corruption scheme... at Petrobras," contradicting the final ruling handed down by the 12th Federal Court of Brasília, which acquitted the former president of this conviction.^[181] The defense also complained that Gabriela Hardt copied parts of Sergio Moro's ruling in the Guarujá triplex case to convict Lula in the Atibaia ranch case.^[182][183] Hardt admitted that he used the triplex sentence as a model, but denied any injustice, claiming that it is common for judges to use other sentences as models and that, despite having used the triplex sentence as a model, the reasoning is different.^[184] On November 13, 2019, the TRF-4 overturned another ruling by Gabriela Hardt (unrelated to Lula) on the grounds that the judge had copied the ruling.^[185]

While in prison, Lula was seen in public on few occasions. His first public appearance after his arrest was on June 5, 2018, when the former president testified before Judge Marcelo Bretas in a criminal case investigating alleged vote buying for the selection of Rio de Janeiro as the host city for the 2016 Summer Olympics.^[186] Lula testified via videoconference.^[187] The second appearance was on November 14, 2018, when the former president testified before Judge Gabriela Hardt in the case involving the ranch in Atibaia. Lula was temporarily released from prison in Curitiba to testify.^[188] The third appearance was on March 1, 2019, when Lula was allowed to attend his grandson's funeral in São Bernardo do Campo.^[163] During the ceremony, Lula only spoke in an area reserved for family and friends.^[189] According to people present at the scene, Lula promised his grandson that he would prove his innocence.^[190] The fourth appearance was on April 26, 2019, when the former president gave his first interview in prison to the newspapers Folha de S.Paulo and El País. ^{[191][192][193][194][195][196]} The fifth appearance was on May 10, 2019, when Lula's second interview in prison, conducted for the BBC, was aired.^[197] On May 15, 2019, Lula gave his third interview in prison, this time to journalist Glenn Greenwald of The Intercept Brasil. The interview was made available in full on the internet on May 21, 2019.^[198] After that, for the rest of his time in prison, Lula appeared only in interviews he gave in prison.

On July 11, 2018, Judge Carolina Moura Lebbos, responsible for enforcing Lula's sentence, denied a request by media outlets to interview him in prison. Among the outlets that made the request were UOL, Folha de S.Paulo, SBT, Rede TV!, and Diário do Centro do Mundo.^[191] Journalists Mônica Bergamo, from Folha de S.Paulo, and Florestan Fernandes Júnior, from El País, filed a constitutional complaint with the Federal Supreme Court against Judge Lebbos' decision.^[199] On the morning of September 28, 2018, Supreme Court Justice Ricardo Lewandowski authorized Lula to give interviews in prison.^[191] Hours later, however, the New Party requested the suspension of the injunction, and Supreme Court Justice Luiz Fux suspended Lewandowski's decision and prohibited Lula from giving an interview to Folha de S.Paulo. If the interview had already been conducted, it could not be published.^[200] The New Party also filed a lawsuit to prevent El País from interviewing Lula.^[201] On October 1, 2018, Lewandowski reaffirmed his decision, but the president of the STF, Dias Toffoli, decided to uphold Fux's decision.^[202] Fux's decision was criticized by lawyers.^[203]

Two days later, Ricardo Lewandowski once again authorized Lula to give interviews in prison.^[204] On the same day, Dias Toffoli overturned the decision again and kept Lula banned from giving interviews from prison, but warned that the matter could be brought before the full Supreme Court at a later date.^[205] On December 4, 2018, Lewandowski asked Toffoli to authorize Lula to give interviews, since the argument for the ban was that the former president's interviews could influence the 2018 electoral process, but that risk no longer existed because the elections had already been held.^[192] On April 18, 2019, Dias Toffoli revoked Fux's decision and authorized Lula to give interviews in prison.^[196] On April 26, 2019, Lula gave his first interview in prison to the newspapers Folha de S.Paulo and El País.^[206]

After Folha and El País won their court case, Lula gave several other interviews during his period of restricted freedom.^[196] Below are all the interviews given by the former president during this period:

On May 17, 2018, Federal Judge Haroldo Nader, of the 6th District Court of Campinas, granted an emergency injunction in a actio popularis lawsuit and ordered Lula's benefits as former president to be cut off.^[226] The magistrate's central argument is that Lula would be safer in the Lava Jato prison in Curitiba than he would be if he were free.^[226] The magistrate highlighted the unnecessary mobilization of agents to accompany Lula wherever he went. “It is also absolutely unnecessary to have two vehicles with drivers available to someone whose right to movement is restricted to the Federal Police building in Curitiba and controlled by prison guards,” said the judge.^{[227][228][229]} The lawsuit was filed by Rubens Nunes, coordinator of the Free Brazil Movement (MBL).^[230][231] On May 29, 2018, Judge Marcelo Saraiva, of the Federal Regional Court of the 3rd Region, upheld an appeal and restored Lula's benefits as former president of the Republic, such as advisors, drivers, security guards, and an official car. The magistrate emphasized that these benefits constitute rights and privileges granted by law to former presidents and are not perks.^[232]

When Lula was arrested, only his family and lawyers were allowed to visit him in prison.^[233] Judge Sergio Moro ruled that lawyers could visit him every day and his family only on Wednesdays. However, a few days after his arrest, it was decided that Lula would receive family visits on a day other than Wednesday. The intention was to prevent his family from meeting with the families of his accusers, since Wednesday is the usual visiting day.^[234] The former president requested that his family visit him on Thursdays, and the Federal Police agreed.^[235] Thus, Lula began to receive visits from his family on Thursdays, while his lawyers could visit him every day.^[235] On April 10, 2018, a delegation of nine governors and three senators attempted to visit Lula in prison, but the visit was not authorized.^[236] On May 3, 2018, Lula received a visit from Senator Gleisi Hoffmann and former minister and former governor of Bahia, Jaques Wagner.^[237]

In April 2018, he was visited by Argentine Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel.^[238] In June 2018, Argentine lawyer Juan Grabois attempted to visit Lula in prison, but his visit was not authorized.^[239] At the time, Grabois stated that he intended to give Lula a rosary blessed by Pope Francis.^[240] After that, information was posted on the internet that the Pope had sent a rosary as a gift to Lula, but the Vatican denied the information.^[241] The Vatican said that the rosary in question had only been blessed by the Pope, it was not a gift from him to Lula, and that Grabois' visit was personal, not on behalf of the Pope.^[242] On August 2, 2018, former minister Celso Amorim delivered a message from Pope Francis to Lula.^[243]

On January 25, 2019, Judge Carolina Lebbos ruled that former mayor Fernando Haddad could only visit Lula on Thursdays. Haddad had joined Lula's defense team and, until then, had been able to visit the former president any day of the week.^[244] The judge argued that Haddad's power of attorney to represent the former president had lost its meaning, since Haddad was defending Lula's rights as a pre-candidate for the presidency in 2018, but the elections had already passed.^[244] The judge also ruled that the former president could no longer receive visits from religious leaders every Monday, as had been authorized in 2018.^[245] Thus, Lula could only receive visits from religious leaders once a month.^[245] On March 1, 2019, Fernando Haddad obtained a new power of attorney to represent Lula in his defense and, as a result, was once again able to visit the former president regularly in prison.^[246]

On September 17, 2019, Lula received a visit in prison from a commission from the National Human Rights Council, which wanted to hear him about possible violations in Operation Car Wash proceedings, including the very case that convicted him.^[247] In October 2019, Lula received visits from Richard Trumka and Pepe Alvarez, respectively the president of the AFL-CIO, the largest trade union federation in the United States, and the secretary-general of Spain's largest trade union federation, the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT).^[248][249] During this visit by union leaders, Lula received the George Meany-Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award from the AFL-CIO.^[250]

During his 500 days in prison, Lula received more visitors, such as American actor Danny Glover,^[251] singers Chico Buarque and Martinho da Vila,^[252] and former Uruguayan president José Mujica.^[253] Among others are Portuguese sociologist Boaventura de Sousa Santos,^[254] German Martin Schulz of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and former president of the European Parliament,^[255] Brazilian theologian Leonardo Boff,^[256] American intellectual Noam Chomsky,^[257] Brazilian Buddhist leader Coen Rōshi,^[258] former Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema,^[259] former governor of the Federal District of Mexico Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas,^[259] and former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.^[251]

On August 17, the UUnited Nations Human Rights Committee requested that Brazil guarantee Lula the full exercise of his political rights, including access to the media and members of his party. The Committee also requested that he not be barred from participating in the 2018 presidential election in Brazil until appeals to higher courts had been judged impartially.^[25]

The Brazilian government, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responded on the same day that the Committee would be composed of individuals who do not represent countries and that the request would not have binding effect, being only a recommendation, and informing that it had forwarded the Committee's decision to the Judiciary.^[19]

On August 23, Sarah Cleveland, the Committee's vice-chair, emphasized that the measures are not recommendations and that Brazil must comply with the Committee's decisions, whose actions are based on commitments made by the country to become a member of the community of states that respect human rights. She explained that:^[18]

The precautionary measures issued by the UN Human Rights Committee are not recommendations. They are legally binding and impose an international legal obligation on Brazil to comply with them.

The Workers' Party even registered Lula's candidacy for the Brazilian presidency in the 2018 elections.^[260] However, on August 31, 2018, the Superior Electoral Court, by a vote of 6 to 1, barred Lula's candidacy based on the Clean Record Act, which determines that those convicted by a collegiate body are ineligible for eight years.^[261] This is the case with Lula, since the TRF-4, which convicted him in the second instance, is a collegiate body.^[261] The majority of the TSE collegiate body understood that the decision of the UN Human Rights Committee was not binding and did not have the normative power to annul the ineligibility linked to the Clean Record Act, and that the precautionary measure of the UN Committee based on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) could not be accepted because, in addition to having been issued by only two of the eighteen members of the Committee, there was “no justification regarding the imminent risk of irreparable damage to the right to run for election, provided for in Article 25 of the ICCPR.” ^[262] Furthermore, the Covenant “is an intermediate norm and cannot contradict the original text of the Constitution.” The only vote in favor of the candidacy, cast by Minister Edson Fachin, considered that, although the ICCPR is not effective in Brazil due to the lack of an executive decree, this could not prevent its validity in the national territory because “its provisions have supra-legal effect, being hierarchically below the Constitution, but above ordinary legislation.”^[261]

Controversy arose among TRF-4 judges on Sunday, July 8, 2018, over whether to release Lula or keep him in prison.^[263] The following is a chronology of events, all of which occurred on the same day:^[264]

• At around 9 a.m., Federal Judge Rogério Favreto, acting as duty judge for the Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region (TRF-4), ruled on a request for a preliminary injunction in a habeas corpus case, granting Lula's release;^[265]
• Later, around noon, Judge Sergio Moro, summoned as the coercive authority, denied coercion and replied that he had only complied with a previous ruling by the 8th panel of the TRF-4, stating that he did not have the power to determine Lula's imprisonment or release. Understanding that the judge on duty would not have the authority to grant freedom to a convicted person tried by a collegiate body, Moro requested guidance from Judge João Pedro Gebran Neto;^[266]
• Forty minutes later, Favreto issued a new order, reiterating his decision to release him;^[267]
• At around 1 p.m., the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office requested reconsideration of the preliminary injunction granted at 9 a.m. by Favreto;^[268]
• At around 2:20 p.m., Federal Judge João Pedro Gebran Neto, who was the presiding judge in the Car Wash cases in the second instance, assumed jurisdiction over the habeas corpus petition and ruled that Favreto's decision should not be enforced;^[264]
• At around 4 p.m., despite the intervention, Judge Favreto again ordered the release of former President Lula, arguing that he had deliberated on new facts, granting a period of one hour for compliance;^[269]
• At around 6 p.m., the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office spoke up again, requesting that the president of the Court resolve the disagreement;^[264]
• A little over thirty minutes after 7 p.m., the president of the TRF-4, Federal Judge Carlos Eduardo Thompson Flores Lenz, ruled that Lula should remain in prison and that the case should be returned to the judge responsible for the Lava Jato cases in the Court, Federal Judge Gebran Neto.^[270]

Excerpt from Thompson Flores' ruling that resolved the issue in the TRF-4:^[271]

In this equation, considering that the matter discussed in the habeas corpus does not challenge analysis under the judicial duty system and given the right of the Federal Reporting Judge to use the institution of assumption of jurisdiction to preserve his own jurisdiction (Internal Regulations/TRF-4R, art. 202), I order the return of the case files to the Office of Federal Judge João Pedro Gebran Neto, as well as the maintenance of the decision he rendered in event 17.

Subsequently, Veja magazine published on August 11, 2018, that “Gebran Neto admitted to friends that he ignored the letter of the law when he ruled against Lula's release” at the time, “disregarding the jurisdiction of the judge on duty.”^[272] The publication of the news caused the hashtag “#GebranForaDaLei” (#GebranOutlaw) to remain among the Trending topics in Brazil on Twitter for most of the day, generating accusations of bias and disrespect for institutions on the part of the judge.^[273]

After 580 days imprisoned in the Federal Police jail in Curitiba, Lula was released on November 8, 2019, one day after the Federal Supreme Court ruled that imprisonment after conviction in the second instance was unconstitutional.^[6][274] The decision for immediate release was made by Judge Danilo Pereira Júnior, of the 12th Federal Court of Curitiba, after a request by lawyer Cristiano Zanin.^[275] Accompanying Lula's release from prison were, in addition to his lawyer Zanin, members of the Workers' Party, including Fernando Haddad, Gliesi Hoffman, Wadih Damous, and Lindbergh Farias.^{[276][277][278]} It was also Lula's first public appearance with Rosângela Lula da Silva, his new girlfriend at the time and future first lady of Brazil..^[279][280]

Lula said that during the 580 days he spent in prison, he read more than forty books.^[281][282]

• The New York Times: highlighted the turnaround that Lula's imprisonment represented for the Brazilian presidential elections. The American newspaper quoted Lula's speech, in which he promised to regain control of Brazil's destiny and prioritize policies to reduce inequality in the country. The article also highlighted the political division in the country, “with some Brazilians setting off fireworks and honking their horns while others lamented the arrest.” In an editorial, the newspaper concluded that “Despite the success of Operation Car Wash, nothing has been done to fix the judicial system. The danger of a shift toward populism and political radicalization is obvious.”^[283]
• Al Jazeera: published an extensive article, emphasizing that the former Brazilian president continues to assert his innocence.^[284]
• Le Monde: published “the fall of the icon of the Brazilian left” and quoted the former president's speech to his supporters.^[285]
• O Globo: in an editorial, the newspaper stated that “Lula's imprisonment reinforces the rule of law” and affirmed that “more than ever, the republican maxim that justice is for all applies.”^[286]
• Folha de S.Paulo: In an editorial entitled “Obey the law,” the newspaper praised the decision and added, “apart from a small group of militants, driven by nonconformity or hatred, society is mature and calm enough to resolve its conflicts and problems. Corruption is one of them, and Brazilian progress, in this regard, is confirmed once again.”^[287]

Repercussions among the candidates for the presidency of the republic in the 2018 presidential election in Brazil, which took place not long after Lula's imprisonment:

• Marina Silva, presidential candidate for Sustainability Network (REDE), said that the former president's conviction shows that “no one is above the law.”^[288] Still on the subject of imprisonment, Marina stated that "Today is a difficult day, because we have a situation where a former president of the Republic is about to serve his sentence for the crimes he committed. But this indicates that we are beginning a process of changing the law that should apply to everyone."^[289]
• Geraldo Alckmin, presidential candidate for the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) defended the arrest of the former president and said that “no one is above the law.” “In public life, everyone has a duty to be accountable,” Alckimin said.^[290]
• Alvaro Dias, presidential candidate for Podemos (PODE), stated that the Clean Record Act benefits from Lula's imprisonment, and praised the arrest.^[291] He also criticized “those who wave their red flags in the streets of the country calling for freedom for the leader of the criminal organization.”^[292]
• Jair Bolsonaro, presidential candidate for the Social Liberal Party (PSL), defended the imprisonment of the former president.^[293]
• Vera Lúcia, presidential candidate for the Unified Socialist Workers' Party (PSTU), expressed her support and stated that “Lula was reaping what he had sown.”^[294]

• Manuela d'Ávila, presidential candidate for the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB), has spoken out against Lula's imprisonment and actively participates in “Pro-Lula” demonstrations.^[295]
• Guilherme Boulos, presidential candidate for the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL), took a stand against Lula's imprisonment and criticized Ciro Gomes for his absence from the demonstration before the former president's arrest.^[296]
• Ciro Gomes, presidential candidate for the Democratic Labour Party (PDT), first said that society had become “suspicious” that the law was only harsh on the PT and Lula. “It seems that harsh laws only apply to one side in Brazil. Harsh laws are very good if they apply to everyone,” said Ciro.^[297] Ciro then said that the sentence that convicted Lula was weak and unfair.^[102]
• Fernando Haddad, the PT's presidential candidate who replaced Lula as the party's candidate, said he would seek all legal means to free the former president.^{[298][299][300]} But he denied that, if elected, he would presidential pardon to Lula, stated in an interview with Central Brasileira de Notícias.^[301]
• José Maria Eymael, presidential candidate for the Christian Democracy (DC), said that Lula's imprisonment is “unconstitutional.”^[302]

The Spanish party Podemos criticized the arrest of the former president. One of the party's representatives in the European Parliament stated that “Brazil does not meet the minimum democratic conditions.”^[303] The party stated that the process at all stages “has been based on irregularities.” It also stated that the process is linked to the interests of the elite who are trying to prevent the PT from returning to the presidency of the country. The party asked the European Parliament to suspend negotiations with Mercosur.^[303][304]

The Colombian party Common Alternative Revolutionary Force (FARC) declared its solidarity “with comrade and former Brazilian president Lula, rejecting the decision taken against him by the Brazilian Supreme Court and demanding all political and judicial guarantees under the Brazilian constitution, its internal order, and international law.”^[305] In a statement, Raúl Castro, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) and former Cuban president, reiterated that Cuba will always stand by the Brazilian people. Read the full message: “To our comrade Lula, victim of political persecution and coup maneuvers, we express our solidarity in the face of the maneuver to prevent his candidacy in the upcoming elections. Lula, Dilma Rousseff, the PT, and the Brazilian people will always have Cuba by their side.”^[306]

• Former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso said in an interview with Radio CBN that justice had been served and that it was not a political arrest, given that all the necessary procedures had been followed. However, he stated that he was “not happy.”^[307]
• Former President Dilma Rousseff stated that Lula was innocent and would know how to handle the situation.^[308]
• Former President José Sarney said he “deeply regretted the arrest” and stated, “I am his friend and was quite shocked.”^[309]
• Businessman and politician João Doria said that Brazil woke up relieved and referred to the PT member as a “crook” and a “liar.”^[310]
• The Free Brazil Movement (MBL) and Come to the Movimento Vem pra Rua (MVPR) advocated for Lula's imprisonment, and a month earlier, they called for public demonstrations demanding the former president's arrest.^[311]

In mid-April 2018, an opinion poll conducted by Datafolha indicated that 54 percent of voters surveyed by the institute considered Lula's imprisonment to be “fair,” while 40 percent disagreed. Another 62 percent believed that Lula would not run in that year's presidential election.^[312] Shortly after his imprisonment, however, election polls showed that, even though he had been convicted and imprisoned, Lula continued to lead the race for the 2018 election, with about 30 percent of voters saying they would vote for him.^[313] Months later, in August 2018, Lula continued to lead the polls for the 2018 election.^[314][315] On the other hand, he also had a high rejection rate of 34 percent, the second highest among the candidates. The polls also showed that, in a scenario without Lula in the election, Jair Bolsonaro led the race.^[316]

Former European leaders, including François Hollande, defended Lula's participation in the 2018 elections after his arrest.^[317] The Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time, Aloysio Nunes, described the demonstration as “arrogant,” saying he was incredulous about the request.^[318]

In December 2019, one month after Lula was released, a new Datafolha poll showed that 54 percent of respondents considered his release to be fair, while 42 percent disagreed.^[319]

In September 2021, former OAS president Léo Pinheiro wrote a letter in which he recanted some of the accusations he had made against Lula in his plea bargain agreement with Operation Car Wash.^[320] The letter was used to dismiss a complaint against Lula, in which he was accused of influence peddling during a lecture in Costa Rica.^[321]

Starting on June 9, 2019, the online newspaper The Intercept Brasil, the Brazilian version of the American publication The Intercept, leaked a series of messages from conversations held via the Telegram app between then-judge Sergio Moro, then-prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol, and other members of Operation Car Wash.^[322] The transcripts indicated that Moro provided privileged information to the prosecution, helping the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) to build cases, as well as guiding the prosecution, suggesting changes to the phases of Operation Car Wash. They also showed that he demanded speed in new operations, gave strategic advice, provided informal clues, and suggested appeals to the MPF.^[323]

This increased criticism that Moro had not been an impartial judge.^[324] Messages exchanged between prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol and other members of Operation Car Wash indicate that there were doubts about the strength of the evidence presented by the prosecution in the Guarujá triplex case, which led to Lula's imprisonment.^[325][326]

On March 8, 2021, Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin overturned Lula's convictions on the grounds that they were handed down by a court that did not have jurisdiction to hear the case.^[6] The decision granted a habeas corpus petition filed by the former president's defense team in November 2020. Fachin ruled that the Federal Court of Paraná did not have jurisdiction to hear the four cases in the lawsuit, and the cases were transferred to the Federal Court of the Federal District, which must now validate or overturn the decisions of the Federal Court of Paraná.^[6] As a result, Lula regained his political rights. Fachin declared null and void all decisions of the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba, which must comply with the decision and refer the case files to the Federal Court of the Federal District, as well as the “loss of the object,” extinguishing fourteen cases pending before the STF questioning Sergio Moro's impartiality in Lula's convictions.^[327] On April 15, 2021, the plenary session of the Federal Supreme Court, by a majority vote from 8 to 3, officially overturned the convictions of the former president handed down by then-judge Sergio Moro in the context of Operation Car Wash.^[328]

The day after Justice Fachin's decision, the Second Panel of the STF, presided over by Justice Gilmar Mendes, decided to uphold the trial of Moro's suspicion in his actions in the Car Wash investigation.^[329] In addition to Gilmar Mendes, Justices Nunes Marques, Cármen Lúcia, and Ricardo Lewandowski voted in favor of upholding the trial.^[329] Fachin upheld his decision, arguing that the defense had presented “new and robust evidence, with serious facts,” which would require more time to analyze and that he, as rapporteur of the case, would have the prerogative to prevent the trial from proceeding, due to the loss of the object and prejudice of the habeas corpus petition filed by Lula's defense.^[330] After gaining access to conversations between Moro and Lava Jato prosecutors in Curitiba, the former president's lawyers considered that there were strong arguments demonstrating Moro's bias, such as the disclosure of wiretaps and authorization for coercive conduct.^[329]

Most of the ministers in the second panel agreed with several points raised by Lula's defense team. Among the points cited are:^{[331][332][333][334][335]}

• The authorization for Lula's coercive conduct in 2016, without first summoning him to testify and all the “spectacularization” surrounding that coercive conduct;
• The wiretapping of Lula's lawyers without first adopting other investigative measures (the wiretapping of Lula's lawyers was also considered serious by the Order of Attorneys of Brazil);
• The selective disclosure of Lula's wiretaps, including a conversation with then-President Dilma Rousseff about Lula's move to the Chief of Staff of the Presidency in 2016;
• The end of the confidentiality of former Minister Antônio Palocci's plea bargain a week before the 2018 election, causing some influence on the election;
• The fact that Sérgio Moro accepted the position of Minister of Justice under Jair Bolsonaro, Lula's political opponent.

On March 23, 2021, the second panel of the Federal Supreme Court granted Habeas Corpus 164.493 filed by Lula's defense and declared former judge Sergio Moro's suspicion in the Guarujá triplex case, which led to the former president's arrest. Justices Gilmar Mendes, Cármen Lúcia, and Ricardo Lewandowski voted in favor of habeas corpus, while Justices Edson Fachin and Nunes Marques dissented.^[336] Three months later, the full Supreme Court, by a vote of 7 to 4, upheld the Second Panel's decision declaring Moro suspect.^[337][338]

With this decision, the proceedings, which weeks earlier had been redirected by Fachin's decision,^[21] also had their preliminary proceedings annulled, so that no action taken by the former judge could be reused by the competent court.^[340]

One day after the STF plenary confirmed the decision of the second panel, Justice Gilmar Mendes extended Moro's recusal to two more cases involving the former president: the Atibaia ranch case and those related to an apartment in São Bernardo do Campo and the Lula Institute.^[341] The justice considered that Moro had also acted in these cases. As a result, these cases were also annulled and must start from scratch, so that the actions taken in them cannot be reused by the new judge, as in the case of the triplex.^[341]

With the annulment of Lula's convictions and the suspicion of former judge Sergio Moro by the Federal Supreme Court, the Guarujá triplex case was referred to the Federal Court in Brasilia, where it would be restarted. But on December 7, 2021, the Federal District Attorney's Office requested that the triplex case be dismissed, arguing that it would not be possible to conduct a new investigation and a new trial on the case before it expired.^[342] On January 28, 2022, Judge Pollyanna Alves, of the 12th Federal Criminal Court in Brasília, agreed with the Prosecutor's Office and thus decided to dismiss the triplex case.^[343]

The Federal Prosecutor's Office filed a new complaint against Lula in the Atibaia ranch case, but the complaint was rejected by the judge in Brasília, who considered that the complaint did not provide new evidence to restart the proceedings.^[344] On April 27, 2022, the United Nations Human Rights Committee ruled that Moro had been biased in Lula's trial.^[345]

In the 2022 Brazilian presidential election, Lula was elected president for the third time.^[346][347] During the election, one of Lula's prison guards advocated voting for him.^[348] After taking office, Lula nominated lawyer Cristiano Zanin, who defended him in the Operation Car Wash trials, to be a Supreme Court justice, which drew some criticism.^[349][350] Lula also chose former Supreme Court Justice Ricardo Lewandowski, who had retired from the Court in 2023, to be Minister of Justice, which drew criticism from former judge Sergio Moro, who said that this would demonstrate that accepting the position of Minister of Justice is not cause for suspicion.^[351] Former prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol also criticized Lewandoswki's nomination and, after being elected federal deputy for Paraná, he was removed from office because, according to Minister Benedito Gonçalves of the TSE, he committed “fraud” against the Clean Record Act by requesting resignation from the MPF 11 months before the elections, while facing internal proceedings that could lead to his dismissal — and, consequently, his ineligibility.^[352][353]

On September 6, 2023, Supreme Court Justice Dias Toffoli annulled all evidence obtained from Odebrecht's plea bargain statements and stated that Lula's imprisonment was “one of the greatest judicial errors in the country's history.”^[354]

• 2014 Brazilian economic crisis
• Arrest of Jair Bolsonaro
• Free Lula movement
• Operation Car Wash
• Vaza Jato

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