Brazil's
Supreme Court will weigh in September an appeal by jailed former
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to be set free so he can join the
presidential campaign already underway, a court spokesperson said on
Monday.
Lula was
jailed in April to start serving a 12-year sentence on a corruption
conviction, that the prosecutors have so far failed to bring concrete
evidence for. He has appealed an earlier decision by a Supreme Court
justice who rejected a habeas corpus writ his lawyers had filed
seeking his release.
The full
11-member court will now rule on the appeal by electronic vote
between Sept. 7 and 13, the spokesperson said.
Lula is
leading polls by a long stretch ahead of the Oct. 7 vote despite not
being able to campaign or take part in presidential debates.
Even if
Lula is freed while awaiting appeals of his conviction, Brazilian
electoral court could also ban him from running based on the rule
barring candidates whose guilty verdicts have been upheld on a first
appeal, as is Lula's case.
His
Workers Party registered his candidacy even though Brazil's electoral
court is expected to bar him from running before the Sept. 17
deadline for altering tickets.
A few
weeks ago, the United Nations, through its Human Rights Committee,
has determined that the Brazilian state has to allow presidential
Lula to exercise his full political rights as a candidate in the
October elections. These include Lula's right to participate in media
events and debates, as well as convene with members of his Workers'
Party.
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