The meeting was particularly expected by Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Visiting Lula in prison in Brazil on Thursday, September 5, the insubordinate leader of France not only "drew energy" from the former president of Brazil, but he also took the opportunity to compare his conviction for corruption in his own judicial situation in France.
The French deputy made a tour that took him from Mexico to South America (Uruguay, Argentina), where he met with left-wing political leaders before arriving in Brazil.
The former presidential candidate is the first French national political leader to visit prison in Lula, with whom he has an old personal relationship. He saw the most famous prisoner of Brazil in the premises of the federal police in Curitiba (south), where he has been detained since April 2018, before having himself a case with the justice in France.
With @Haddad_Fernando after our meeting with @LulaOficial in the police center where he is incarcerated. May all those who struggle in the world know that they are not alone! #LulaBook #LulaLibre # FreeLula #FreeLula
➡️ https://t.co/8TfjdRdIy7 pic.twitter.com/nFgV7aO6cq
"I come out, after drawing energy from him," he told a few reporters. "I find him with the same strength of character - be all Lula!" "I found it very strong, in all respects," continued Jean-Luc Mélenchon stating that Lula, 73, "ran nine kilometers every day running" on a treadmill. "He called us to the resistance," he added, explaining that "much of the (discussion) focused on the use of justice in political trials," "lawfare ".
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, president from 2003 to 2010, is serving a sentence of eight years and ten months. Condemned for receiving a luxury beachfront apartment from a public works group in exchange for favors in awarding public contracts, Lula has repeatedly claimed his innocence, claiming to be the victim of a plot to to prevent him from returning to power.
"There is no limit to the use of justice in political trials"
He was the favorite of the presidential election of October 2018, but was declared ineligible a few weeks before the election, which saw the election of the far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro.
In June, the investigation site The Intercept Brasil published message exchanges that cast doubt on the impartiality of the prosecutors in charge of the Lula case and of Judge Sergio Moro, who sentenced him at first instance.
>> To read: Sergio Moro, the "Mr. Clean" of Brazil, weakened by the Lula affair
Jean-Luc Mélenchon drew a parallel between the Lula case and his own setbacks: he must be judged on 19 and 20 September in correctional law, along with five of his relatives, after a tumultuous search at the headquarters of the BIA in October 2018.
Lula is "sentenced for indeterminate acts," he said. "There is no limit to the use of justice in political trials, even Stalin was better, he was trying to get a confession, there is not even one."
"We are determined not to let ourselves, each in our country, to unite, to link our groups of lawyers (...) to help us (...) in the political trials that we suffer" added the deputy from Bouches-du-Rhône.
"I will be in political trial myself at the end of September"
"I will be myself in political trial at the end of September," said the deputy unsympathetic, "it will be a very sad moment for my country because there was no political trial in France since the period of the Algerian war".
"It's the same method (that Lula's conviction), maybe it will not be the same conclusions, I do not know," but "the same incriminations without evidence and violations of the rights of the defense" .
>> To read: Brazil: The slow implosion of the political system brought Bolsonaro to power
Judge Moro, who sentenced Lula - now Justice Minister Jair Bolsonaro - is "a politically corrupt figure, ready to do anything, including dirtying the justice of his country to complete a political trial", accused Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
"No one believes that Lula can be corrupt, everyone knows he is in prison for (...) a political reason that allowed Mr. Bolsonaro to be elected," he insisted.
The Brazilian Supreme Court will soon be considering a request for Lula's release based on the alleged bias of Sergio Moro but also on procedural issues. However, Lula could also be sentenced in another corruption case, among the half-dozen cases in which he is accused.
With AFP