(Geneva) The UN Human Rights Committee concluded on Thursday that the investigation and prosecution of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva violated his right to be tried by an impartial tribunal.
Posted at 2:16 p.m.
The Committee, which sits in Geneva and whose decisions are not binding, examined the complaint filed by Lula, President of Brazil from 2003 to 2010, on the investigation which led him to prison in 2017 for corruption. A sentence finally canceled in 2021.
“While states have a duty to investigate and prosecute acts of corruption and to keep the public informed, especially where a former head of state is involved, these actions must be carried out fairly and respect the safeguards of due process,” Committee member Arif Bulkan said in a statement.
UN experts have concluded that the “political rights” and “private life” of Lula, who in 2016 was investigated as part of the anti-corruption operation Lava Jato carried out under the direction of Sergio Moro, had also been raped.
Judge Moro had sentenced Lula in 2017 to nine and a half years in prison for having obtained a triplex by the sea from a construction company in exchange for public contracts. A sentence increased to 12 years on appeal.
Imprisoned in April 2018 for corruption and money laundering, the leader of the Workers’ Party (PT) had to give up running for president, won by Jair Bolsonaro. Mr. Moro then became the Minister of Justice of the latter before resigning with a bang, 15 months later.
Claiming to be the victim of a political conspiracy, Lula was eventually released in November 2019 and the Federal Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 2021 on the grounds that Mr Moro had been biased.
“It is a victory for all Brazilians who believe in the rule of law and democracy. Independent and impartial international judges heard all the evidence and concluded that Judge Moro was totally biased against me. The UN recognizes that the whole affair was fabricated for the sole purpose of preventing me from being a candidate in the 2018 election,” Lula said on Thursday.
For his part, Mr. Moro said in a message sent to AFP that he had not yet had access to the UN report but stressed that Lula had “been convicted of corruption by three instances” of the system. Brazilian judiciary and had passed “through the hands of more than nine judges”.
The leader of the PT should be a candidate in October for a third term and is given the winner in various polls against Mr. Bolsonaro.