25 Brazilian Judges and Prosecutors Consider Lula's Acts to Be Crimes

05/02/2018 - 12h25

After the new charges filed on Monday (30) by General Prosecutor of Brazil, Raquel Dodge, 25 members of the Judiciary Branch and the Federal Prosecution Office consider some of the acts of former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, during or after his term in office, to be crimes. Now facing nine charges, in addition to that which resulted in his conviction and arrest, Lula says he has been politically persecuted in Operation Car Wash (Lava Jato) and related investigations.

The charges show that 19 first-instance prosecutors - among them 13 from Paraná's Task force - agree that Lula committed a crime. In the Federal District, six prosecutors have signed indictments. In addition to them, Dodge and her predecessor, Rodrigo Janot, also concluded that the former president acted illegally. They are rivals in the Federal Prosecution Office.

In Court, Sergio Moro, in Paraná, agreed with the accusations of prosecutors and was the first judge to find Lula guilty regarding Operation Car Wash - for corruption and money laundering in the case of the triplex apartment. Moro's decision was upheld by appeals court judges João Pedro Gebran Neto, Victor Laus and Leandro Paulsen, of the TRF-4 (Federal Regional Court of the 4th region).

	Donaldo Hadlich/FramePhoto/Folhapress
	General Prosecutor of Brazil, Raquel Dodge

After the charges brought by Dodge on Monday, PT's press office and senator Gleisi Hoffmann, president of the party, once again claimed the accusations take place at a time when Lula "leads all election polls indicating the Brazilian people want him to be the next president".

The top ten cases against the former president -he is a defendant in six of them and was convicted in one - include influence peddling, obstruction of justice, money laundering, passive corruption, and criminal organization.

The first time he was indicted by Dodge, the prosecutor general stated Lula had committed the crime of passive corruption, based on plea bargains and accounts provided by Odebrecht's former executives. Lula denies any irregularities.

Translated by ANA BEATRIZ DEMARIA

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