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Brazil's ex-president Lula da Silva could vote next year if he is acquitted
Photo: CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON / EPA
Brazil's ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was released from prison around a year and a half ago and promptly declared war on the current president, Jair Bolsonaro.
A court ruling has now given Lula backing for the possible candidacy against Bolsonaro in the coming year: the country's highest court declared four corruption rulings against Lula null and void.
Judge Edson Fachin argued that the court in Curitiba, southern Brazil, which had brought all the trials against Lula, had no jurisdiction.
The cases now have to be reopened by a federal court in Brasilia.
According to Reuters news agency, the Brazilian attorney general announced that it would immediately appeal the decision.
If the judgments by the federal court in Brasilia are not reinstated, the still popular left-wing politician could run in next year's presidential election.
Lula, who was President of Brazil from 2003 to 2011, had always rejected the corruption allegations against him as politically motivated.
In one case, he had already started a prison sentence of several years in April 2018.
Lula has been at large again since November 2019.
According to Reuters, however, his criminal record currently makes it impossible for Lula to run for president again.
His lawyers had requested his release after the Supreme Court ruled that convicts could not be detained until all legal remedies had been exhausted.
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fek / AFP / Reuters
