Former Brazilian president Lula given 24 hours to surrender and begin 12-year jail term for corruption
Lula was convicted last year of receiving a seaside flat as a bribe from a construction company
Former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, front runner in Brazil’s October presidential elections, was given 24 hours on Thursday to surrender to police and start a 12-year prison sentence for corruption.
The timing of the order from Judge Sergio Moro, head of Brazil’s huge “Car Wash” anti-graft probe, took Lula’s lawyers by complete surprise. They had been expecting to use legal manoeuvres to delay the start of prison at least until next week.
In his first public reaction, Lula, who was once among the planet’s most popular politicians, called the abrupt order “absurd”, CBN radio reported.
Lula, 72, easily leads polls in Brazil’s presidential race and his apparent downfall will throw the contest completely open. Currently, hard-right former army officer Jair Bolsonaro, who openly praises Brazil’s 1964-85 dictatorship, is in second place.
Moro’s order said that in view of Lula’s stature as a former president, he would have “the opportunity to present himself voluntarily” to police in the city of Curitiba, where the “Car Wash” probe is based, by 5pm on Friday.
[A special cell] was prepared in advance … in which the ex-president will be separated from other prisoners
A special cell “was prepared in advance … in which the ex-president will be separated from other prisoners, with no risk for his moral or physical integrity,” Moro wrote.