UN Human Rights Committee Rules for Lula’s Right to Run for President in Brazil
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was imprisoned last April on dubious corruption charges after the nation’s high court ruled his 12-year sentence could be enforced while appealing his conviction.
He’s Brazil’s most popular politician, his approval rating over 80% when leaving office. Charges against him and imprisonment were all about wanting him barred from seeking reelection in October.
Recent polls show he’d win reelection if allowed to run. Dark forces in Brazil and Washington want him kept out of the contest for president.
In 2016, the Obama regime conspired with Brazilian hardliners to impeach and remove democratically elected President Dilma Rousseff from office on bogus charges.
Tyranny replaced democracy. A wish list for markets and investors was implemented – neoliberal harshness eliminating social justice, powerful privileged interests served at the expense of most others.
Lula is no champion of progressive governance. As president, he largely supported monied interests. Yet he was a far cry from extremists running the country now.
He was convicted of accepting an alleged $1.2 million bribe from Brazilian construction company OAS in exchange for helping the firm obtain government contracts.
He denies it. So did his lead attorney, Valeska Texeira Zanin Martin, early saying “(n)o credible evidence of guilt has been produced, and overwhelming proof of his innocence blatantly ignored.”
He was acquitted of “imputations of corruption and money laundering involving the storage of presidential stock for lack of sufficient proof of materiality.”
His legal team said Judge Sergio Moro’s ruling ignored evidence of innocence, accusing him of political bias.
According to his lead attorney Martin, bank and real estate records prove Lula’s innocence. Money he allegedly used to buy a three-story beachfront apartment wasn’t a bribe, she explained, because it’s registered in the OAS’ name.
If sold, the transaction would prove he didn’t acquire the property. Prosecutor Henrique Pozzobon suggested he may have been framed, saying “(w)e don’t have to prove…We have conviction.”
Earlier this month, a UN Human Rights Committee panel of independent experts, overseeing compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ruled for Lula’s right to exercise his political rights to run for reelection in October.
It called for Brazil’s government “not to prevent him from standing for election in the 2018 presidential elections, until his appeals before the courts have been completed in fair judicial proceedings,” adding:
“Lula can enjoy and exercise his political rights while in prison, as candidate in the 2018 presidential elections.”
“This includes having appropriate access to the media and members of his political party.”
He should only be disqualified from running if his appeal is denied.
Brazil’s ruling regime said the Committee’s ruling wasn’t legally binding. His legal team said “no Brazilian government entity can present any obstacles to former president Lula’s ability to run in the 2018 presidential elections, until his appeals are exhausted in a fair trial.”
In cahoots with the ruling regime and Washington, Brazil’s high court is expected to declare Lula ineligible to run for reelection.
As in America and other Western countries, the system is rigged in Brazil to serve powerful interests at the expense of everyone else.
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