Convictions against Lula da Silva for Lava Jato annulled

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(Credit: MIGUEL SCHINCARIOL / AFP via Getty Images)

(CNN Spanish) -

This Monday, the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil annulled all the sentences that former President Lula da Silva has against him for the second case of Lava Jato, decisions taken by the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba, and ordered a restart the cases in the Federal Court of Brasilia, according to that organism in a communiqué.

In a decision signed by Minister Luiz Eson Fachin, the Supreme Court determines that the actions that led to the convictions of Da Silva could not have taken place in Curitiba, capital of the state of Paraná, because the events mentioned are not directly related to the Petrobras diversion scheme.

CNN is trying to reach out to the former president's legal team to get their reaction.

The annulment of the sentences was based on procedural defects and without judging the merits of the matter.

The measure rehabilitates the political rights of Lula da Silva, who will thus be able to stand in the next presidential elections in 2022. Referring to this possibility, the leader of the Workers' Party declared: “I do not need to be president of the Republic, but if it were to defeat Bolsonarism, I would make myself available.

In April 2018, Lula was sentenced to 12 years for crimes of laundering and concealment of money, rights and property, in connection with the ownership of an apartment in the coastal town of Guarujá, Sao Paulo, which he would have received from the engineering group OAS in exchange for alleged favors to obtain millionaire contracts in the state oil company Petrobras.

In November of that same year, the former president was sentenced to 17 years and a month in prison for passive corruption and money laundering for irregular profits on a farm in the municipality of Atibaia, in the state of Sao Paulo.

Lula always denied the accusations.

Lula da Silva