Brazil: Federal Judge Orders Lula Transfer to Sao Paulo Prison

The substitute judge of the 12th Federal Court of Curitiba Carolina Lebbos decided Wednesday morning to transfer former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from a federal jail in Curitiba to a prison in the state of Sao Paulo.

A few minutes after this information was released, the Worker’s Party (PT) president Gleisi Hoffmann explained that such ruling did not respect the request made by Lula’s lawyers, who had asked to suspend any relocation until the habeas corpus trial.

“The decision to transfer Lula from Curitiba to Sao Paulo is the sole responsibility of the Parana’s Federal Police Superintendency, which requested the measure”, Hoffman said and added that “Judge Lebbos processed such request without taking into account the arguments of the former president’s defense”.

“Lula should not be imprisoned anywhere because he is innocent and was convicted through a judicial farce… Judge Carolina Lebbos’ decision is another illegality and a gesture of persecution of Lula because she arbitrarily denies the prerogatives of an ex-president”.

The PT president also complained that the substitute federal judge’s decision opens the possibility for the leftist leader to be transferred to a shared prison cell.

According to local media, the Sao Paulo Justice Court judge Paulo de Almeida has already determined that Lula da Silva be transferred to the Jose Salgado penitentiary in the municipality of Tremembe.

All these judicial decisions violate Lula’s human rights as indicated by the social organizations that demand his release.

“The Federal Police, the Public Prosecution Service and the judge clearly expressed a willingness to increase the former president’s isolation”, the Free Lula Committee said, adding that the transfer decision occurred precisely when social mobilizations and vigils were planned outside the Curitiba prison.

“Lula is the victim of yet another offensive sponsored by his tormentors, which overrides the Constitution and laws… Judge Lebbos’s ruling is nothing but a petty and vindictive action”.

Before the decision taken by the substitute judge, members of the Association of Judges for Democracy (AJD) were expected to visit the Lula in the Curitiba jail on Thursday.

Besides presenting him a letter approved by AJD plenary assembly, in which the Brazilian legal experts ratify that Lula is a political prisoner, some 30 judges and former judges will join a vigil in support of his freedom.

The historical leader of the Brazilian left has been in prison since April 7, 2018 over corruption charges that media leaks and legal experts have exposed as politically motivated.