'Assault on Democracy': Brazil's Supreme Court Rules Presidential Favorite Lula Must Serve Jail Time

In what has been denounced as an “assault on democracy,” Brazil’s Supreme Court on Thursday narrowly ruled that former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva must begin serving a 12-year sentence on corruption charges that many have argued are part of a false and politically motivated campaign against the nation’s most popular political figure.

Click Here: cd universidad catolica

“Brazil’s rightwing knows that it wouldn’t stand a chance against Lula in this year’s elections.”
—Mark Weisbrot, Center for Economic and Policy Research”This latest move to circumvent democratic process and keep a popular candidate out of office is another serious blow to Brazil’s democratic institutions,”  Mark Weisbrot, co-director for the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), said in a statement responding to the ruling. “It’s the second in a one-two punch, the first being the unconstitutional impeachment and removal of elected president Dilma Rousseff in 2016 for something that had been done by previous administrations and was not even a crime.”

“Brazil’s rightwing knows that it wouldn’t stand a chance against Lula in this year’s elections, just as it twice lost elections to Lula before, and then twice more to Dilma,” Weisbrot added. “So, as with Dilma, they are using other means to keep him out of office.”

The court’s ruling on Thursday—which was accompanied by massive demonstrations in support of Lula—further destabilizes Brazil’s already chaotic political scene, as Lula was widely viewed as the frontrunner heading into the October elections.