Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was found guilty of corruption and money laundering on July 12, 2017 and sentenced to almost 10 years in prison.
This is the highest-profile conviction yet in the sprawling graft investigation that has jailed dozens of Brazil’s elite.
The decision by Judge Sergio Moro was widely expected, even by Silva’s own defense team, but was still stunning.
The charismatic leader left office on Dec. 31, 2010, with sky-high popularity and is credited with pulling millions of Brazilians out of poverty and turning Latin America’s largest nation into an important player on the world stage.
Brazil’s first working class president will remain free while an appeal is heard, but he is now also the country’s first ex-president to be convicted in a criminal proceeding at least since democracy was restored in the 1980s.
In many quarters, the man known to Brazilians simply as Lula remains revered both for his economic policies and his role in fighting for democracy during the country’s dictatorship.
The 71-year-old has been considered a front-runner for next year’s presidential election.
The case is part of the huge “Operation Car Wash” corruption investigation centred on state-run oil giant Petrobras that has led to the convictions of dozens of business executives and politicians, and threatens current President Michel Temer.
Silva was accused of receiving a beachfront apartment and repairs to the property as kickbacks from construction company OAS.
Silva never owned the apartment, but prosecutors argued it was intended for him.
Prosecutors also alleged that OAS paid to store Silva’s belongings, but Judge Moro dismissed that part of the case.
Silva also faces charges in four other cases.
Judge Moro said he did not order Silva’s immediate arrest because the conviction of a president is such a serious matter that he felt the former leader’s appeal should be heard first.
The case now goes before a group of magistrates. If they uphold the conviction, Brazilian law says Silva would be barred from seeking office.
In addition to sentencing Silva to 9 1/2 years in prison, Judge Moro also ruled that the politician should be barred from public office for 19 years.
Silva’s presidency coincided with an economic boom fuelled by high commodity prices and he used the profits to fund generous social programs that made him a hero among Brazil’s poor.
He left office with popularity ratings of up to 87 per cent and Brazilians elected his hand-picked successor, Dilma Rousseff, to succeed him.
But a subsequent fall in commodity prices and economic mismanagement by Silva and Ms. Rousseff led Brazil’s economy to implode.
