A Brazilian court has downgraded the imprisonment of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, convicted of corruption. The judges in the capital Brasília reduced the prison sentence from twelve years and one month to eight years and ten months.
Thus, the 73-year-old could profit from the autumn relief imitations. He might then, for example, do a job, but would have to return to prison for the night.
The left-wing politician and former head of state (2003 to 2010) has been in custody in Curitiba, southern Brazil for about a year. He had been convicted in the wake of the corruption scandal over the state-controlled oil giant Petrobras. Lula was found guilty of having been given a luxury apartment in the coastal town of Guarujá in the state of São Paulo by a construction company in exchange for contracts with Petrobras.
The still very popular politician of the Workers Party (PT) has always rejected the allegations against him and described as politically motivated. Because of his conviction and imprisonment he could not compete in the presidential election last year. This eventually won the ultra-right politician Jair Bolsonaro.
In February, Lula was sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison in another trial at first instance. A court in Curitiba found him guilty of favoring a construction company in return for renovating a manor on contracts with Petrobras.