Workers Party Moves Headquarters to Curitiba and Calls Lula a Political Prisoner

04/10/2018 - 11h34

The leadership of the PT (Workers) Party communicated on Monday (the 9th) that former president Lula's candidacy would be registered on August the 15th, even after his imprisonment.

The party leadership claimed that Lula is a political prisoner - his conviction was upheld on first appeal and his sentence was increased to 12 years and one month in prison for corruption and money laundering in the case of the triplex apartment in Guarujá (SP).

Even with the communique, behind closed doors the party is discussing alternatives to Lula, like former Bahia Governor Jaques Wagner and former São Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad.

The communication also said that current party president, Gleisi Hoffmann (PR), will serve as the former president's spokesperson and party interlocutor with other leftist political parties and organizations.

	Zanone Fraissat/Folhapress
	Senator Lindbergh Farias and PT President Gleisi Hoffmann attend a party's executive meeting in Curitiba on Monday

It was also announced that the PT's leadership would be relocated to Curitíba, the capital city of the State of Paraná and also where Lula is currently being held.

The PT leaders have no real hope regarding the possibility of Lula being freed in an eventual vote tentatively scheduled for Wednesday (the 11th) on a request for an injunction at the Federal Supreme Court barring incarceration for defendants whose condemnations are upheld on first appeal.

Party leaders made a request to Minister Raul Jungmann (Public Security) for help in their attempt to transfer him to São Paulo, arguing that the former president's health and safety are at risk in Curitiba. They said that they were concerned about the potential for his falling into depression.

The first business day after Lula's arrest was an unstable one. The US Dollar closed at R$ 3.42, its highest level since December of 2016. The Stock Market closed down 1.8%

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

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