Brazil general sets country on edge by hinting military intervention if courts rule in Lula's favor
On the eve of a critical ruling from Brazil’s highest court, the general in charge of the country’s army is being accused of sending a thinly veiled warning to the 11 judges on the top bench.
The Supreme Federal Tribunal is expected to rule late Wednesday or on Thursday on a petition from former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to remain at liberty despite a 12-year prison sentence for corruption and money-laundering.
The ruling will be a key factor in presidential elections later this year, and is perhaps the most important and politically divisive question to come before Brazil’s courts since the military dictatorship ended in 1985.
Now an already polarized country has been set on edge by an unprecedented statement by General Eduardo Villas Boas, 66, commander of the army.
“In Brazil’s current situation, it is up to the institutions and citizens to ask who is really thinking of the well-being of our country and its future generations and who is only concerned about personal interests,” the general wrote late Tuesday night, adding that the military “shared the desire of all good citizens to repudiate impunity,” interpreted by many Brazilians as a warning to the court to reject Mr. da Silva’s petition and clear the path for him to be jailed.
Polling show Lula da Silva, whose center-left administration governed Brazil from 2003 to 2011, ahead as the country nears presidential elections this October. A supreme court ruling upholding his imprisonment would bar him from running.
At: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-brazilian-general-sets-country-on-edge-by-hinting-of-military/
General Eduardo Villas Boas. Amnesty International has condemned his statements as a "threat to the rule of law."
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Brazil's top court spars over jail for ex-President da Silva
Peter Prengaman and Mauricio Savarese, Associated Press
Updated 9:23 pm, Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Photo: Eraldo Peres, AP
Demonstrators carry signs written in Portuguese that read "Free Lula" during a protest in support of Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, April 4, 2018. Brazil's top court could rule as soon as today whether da Silva can stay out of prison while appealing a corruption conviction, a decision that could radically alter October's presidential election in Latin America's largest nation.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Justices on Brazil's top court traded barbs Wednesday night as they weighed whether former President Luiz Inacio Silva, leading preference polls to return to the presidency, should be allowed to put off beginning a 12-year sentence while he appeals a corruption conviction.
The debate at the Supreme Federal Tribunal underscored how fraught and ultimately important their decision could be: Denying da Silva's petition could all but doom his candidacy and generate protests at a time of high tension in Latin America's largest nation.
Nine hours into the session, five justices had voted against da Silva and four in his favor. The matter would be decided once six of the 11 members voted for one option or the other. The session was on pace to go into the wee hours of Thursday.
Justice Gilmar Mendes, who voted in favor of da Silva's petition to stay out of jail, challenged his colleagues to buck pressure from society.
More:
https://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Prison-for-Lula-Brazil-s-top-court-decides-fate-12803823.php