Ruling keeping Brazil ex-president Lula in jail upheld

Appellate Judge João Pedro Gebran Neto, of a federal court in south Brazil, decided today (Jul. 9) to uphold his decision to deny the release of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, imprisoned since April 7.

Just yesterday (8), Neto, rapporteur in cases under Operation Car Wash—a sweeping probe into corruption and money laundering embezzled from state-run oil giant Petrobras—overruled a ruling by Rogério Favreto, an appellate judge on call for the weekend, who had ordered Lula to be released.

Judge João Pedro Gebran Neto - Sylvio Sirangelo/TRF4

Neto also removed Favreto from the case initiated by a habeas corpus petition filed by lawmakers from Lula’s Workers’ Party (PT) in a bid to see him freed.

Lula remains in jail

On Monday, after receiving the proceedings, Neto upheld his decision and also blocked all possible complaints attempting to have the federal court’s disciplinary board or the National Justice Council look into whether Federal Judge Sérgio Moro has failed to comply with the move to release Lula.

In his ruling, Gebran reiterates that authorities at the federal court had already turned down the same request to free the onetime president and that nothing had emerged that could justify Favreto’s decision. “If the granting of a preliminary injunction as an ordinary proceeding is exceptional as it is, its granting within on-call hours is even more so,” he argues.

Lula was taken to the Federal Police Superintendency unit in Curitiba city, southern Brazil, after a ruling by Judge Sérgio Moro, who ordered him to start serving his 12-year sentence for corruption and money laundering.