February 24, 2019

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Lula was sentenced once again, this time to 12 years and 11 months in prison for the lawsuit about the ranch in Atibaia. The sentence adds to the 12 years and 1 month one, given in the aberrant case of the triplex in Guarujá. At the age of 73 and a sentence that sums up to 25 years, Lula is the target of a judicial offensive that does not seek justice, but revenge and political banishment. They want him to die in jail.

By temporarily taking on Sergio Moro’s position, the judge Gabriela Hardt signed the sentence in the ranch’s case in record time, right before being substituted: she needed to deliver her life’s trophy. Using the picturesque concept of “non-existent acts of office” she just finished the work started by Moro, copying, by the way, identical excerpts of the triplex’s sentence and ignoring the arguments brought by the defense.

The prosecution defect is the same in both cases: where is the evidence of the reward? That is, even if the services performed by the contractors in the renovation of Fernando Bittar’s ranch – that Lula used to visit – are proven to have happened, that does not constitute crime unless there was an objective measure by the former president of favoring such contractors, the so called “acts of office”.

Moro and Hardt juggling were to try to associate such renovation services to benefits obtained by the contractor’s companies with Petrobras, with no evidence to back it up. Without likelihood, actually. As mentioned by the jurist Afranio Silva Jardim, “using the line of reasoning used by Moro and his team, Lula would have to be the dumber corrupt in history”. First, because he didn’t increase his assets. Second, because he would have trade small renovations in property that he didn’t own for millionaire contracts with Petrobras. Him, of all people, appointed by Dallagnol’s PowerPoint as the “leader of the scheme”.

Meanwhile, “secondary” characters would have received pretty different rewards by offering the same benefits to such companies. Aécio Neves is being charged of receiving BRL 50 million from Odebrecht alone, not mentioning the monthly allowance paid by JBS. Cunha is being accused of pocketing BRL 52 million from the Porto Maravilha consortium in Rio. Lula, however, is charged for an apartment renovation that costed 770,000 and for a 920,000 renovation in a ranch that is not even his, as it was recognized by the judge herself. It makes no sense. The stretch to keep him in jail is blatant.

The political character of his conviction and imprisonment was flung open to the world by Moro’s trajectory. The man responsible for the sentence that would prevent Lula from running to president, when he was heading all the polls, and that also made public an old testimony given by Palocci close to the elections to interfere in the game, became the Minister of Justice of Lula’s main adversary.

In any democracy, the above-mentioned sequence of facts would be enough to raise suspicion around the judicial decisions and even revoke them. The repercussion of Moro’s appointment by the captain took international proportions. “Bolsonaro promise high position to judge that imprisoned his rival” pointed out the British Times, opening wide the derision that once more was made normal by a big part of Brazilian media.

Not enough, it’s still possible to hear the argument that the former president is not above the law and for such reason must serve his time silently. He is not above the law, and he shouldn’t be below either. But it is what is happening flagrantly: Lula’s lawsuit is treated as an exception for the negative aspect, almost an homo sacer, according to Giorgio Agamben’s definition.

We can cite a few episodes. Right before his imprisonment, the Supreme Court Justice Carmen Lucia acted openly to stop the judgment of the possibility of imprisonment in appellate court, which was going to be voted as unconstitutional by the majority of the Supreme Court.

Right before the trial of his Habeas Corpus, the Chief of the Army intimidated, using his Twitter account, the Supreme Court using dubious words about a possible release of Lula. The decisions of a federal judge and of a Supreme Court Justice that allowed his freedom – albeit temporary – were simply not executed and quickly suspended.

Since his arrest, a series of legal chicanery made it impossible for Lula to grant interviews, a right granted to several other arrested people in Brazil. Last month, the former president was cowardly prevented of attending to his brother’s funeral. Judged by public enemies, completely silenced and deprived to say goodbye to his brother, Lula is a political prisoner. They want him to die in jail, situation he has faces with great dignity.

The Supreme Court has the opportunity to stop this ludicrous situation in April, when judging the possibility of arrest in appellate court. It’s as simple as enforcing the Constitution. And, of course, not surrender to casuistic frameworks – such as a possible fast conviction by the Superior Court of Justice – so that the definition is not applied to the former president.

The fight for Lula’s freedom remains as an important part of the democratic taskforce that lies ahead the Brazilian opposition.

 

Carta Capital | Photo: AFP / Heuler Andrey | Translated by Luna Veronese and Luiz Osório.