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BRASILIA. – A Brazilian appeals court judge Sunday ruled former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva must remain in jail, in a dizzying day of judicial orders and counter-orders months before the country’s presidential vote.
Though he is serving a 12-year sentence for corruption, the wildly popular leftist Lula, 72, continues to lead opinion polls ahead of October’s election and has vowed his name will be on the ballot.
In his Sunday afternoon ruling, Judge Pedro Gebran Neto overturned a shock order to free Lula, which dropped hours earlier from Judge Rogerio Favreto at an appeals court in the southern city of Porto Alegre — the same one that had ordered the ex-president’s arrest.
Favreto, the weekend duty judge, had ruled in favour of several deputies of Lula’s Workers’ Party. On Friday they submitted a habeas corpus application on the former president’s behalf, arguing he had been illegally imprisoned.
On the heels of the first ruling, top anti-corruption judge Sergio Moro — who originally sentenced Lula in July 2017 — said Favreto did not have the power to secure the leftist’s release.
Gebran Neto followed suit, instructing federal police at a prison in Curitiba city to keep Lula behind bars.
Yet another twist emerged as the tense afternoon wore on. – AFP
Online Reporter