BRAZIL
Busted But Unbowed
Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva remained defiant after an appeals court upheld his conviction on corruption charges, making it even more unlikely that he will be able to make another run at the nation’s top office.
“I want them to tell me what crime I committed,” the Associated Press quoted Lula as telling supporters after the verdict. “I have been convicted again for a freaking apartment that is not mine.”
All three judges voted to reject the appeal, which related to charges that he accepted a beachfront apartment from a construction firm in exchange for government contracts, Bloomberg reported. They also boosted his sentence to 12 years from nine and a half.
Lula’s Workers’ Party said it would still register Lula as its candidate for president. By law, the conviction bars him from contesting, but he has several more avenues to appeal.
Popular for the social programs he adopted during his two terms in office during the commodities boom, Lula leads opinion polls. He has vowed to undo current President Michel Temer’s market-friendly reforms.
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