Court authorizes Lula’s transfer from Curitiba to São Paulo

Brazil’s ex-president has been jailed since April 2018

August 07, 2019 by Brasil de Fato
Thousands of supporters carried Lula into the Metal Workers' Union, trying to stop him from turning himself in to the police in April 2018 / Ricardo Stuckert

A Curitiba court authorized the transfer of Brazil’s former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to an undisclosed location in the state of São Paulo.

Lula has been jailed since April 2018 at the Federal Police headquarters in the southern city of Curitiba.

Carolina Moura Lebbos, the deputy judge overseeing the case, reviewed petitions filed by the Regional Bureau of the Federal Police in Paraná, where Lula is being held for more than a year, and mentioned the ex-president’s defense lawyers, who argued that the popular leader should have the right to serve his sentence near his residence in special facilities that are appropriate for a former head of state.

The Federal Police argued that there were security and public order reasons involved in keeping Lula in their headquarters, claiming that the facilities were “completely inappropriate” to hold him.

In São Paulo, the ex-president Michel Temer was held in special prison facilities as a former chief of state at the riot police department in the center of the city.

In her decision, however, Judge Lebbos argued that the country’s legislation on enforcement of judgment does not establish that Lula should necessarily be transferred to special prison facilities for former heads of state, but only that some precautions must be taken regarding the safety and security of the ex-president.

Lula has been imprisoned for more than a year in a 15 square-meter cell (roughly 160 square feet), with a closet, four chairs, a bathroom, a TV, and a single bed. He is allowed sunbathing time three times a week and family and friends can visit him on Thursdays. The rest of the time, he is completely alone.

Brasil de Fato contacted the ex-president’s defense layers, who informed they are in a meeting to analyze the decision before commenting.

 

More information soon.

Edition: Pedro Ribeiro Nogueira | Translated by Aline Scátola