Lula da Silva: Former Brazilian President attacks Bolsonaro as his path to political comeback clears

Da Silva had been convicted for corruption and money laundering in 2017 stemming from a wide-ranging investigation into the state-run oil company Petrobras, dubbed “Operation Car Wash.” Those convictions were annulled on Monday by Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Justice Luiz Edson Fachin, effectively restoring his right to run for office.

Speaking on Wednesday at the ABC Metalworkers Union in São Bernardo do Campo, the same place where he spoke to supporters moments before going to prison, da Silva hailed the ruling as acknowledgment “that there was never a crime committed by me… that there was never any involvement of mine with Petrobras.”

According to the judge’s statement, judicial procedure in da Silva’s case was flawed from the beginning because the Federal Court of Curitiba which ruled on his conviction did not have jurisdiction. “With this decision, all the rulings handed by the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba are declared null,” the statement from Fachin’s office read, ordering that two cases in which da Silva was convicted be processed again at the Federal Court of Brasilia.

What happens next is up to the broader Supreme Court. According to CNN Brasil, the country’s attorney general has promised to appeal Fachin’s ruling. Even if the Supreme Court upholds it, da Silva could still be convicted again in a retrial. Meanwhile, a separate vote by the Supreme Court this week could also see the cases tossed out.

For now, however, the way has been cleared for the former president to return to politics, potentially reshaping the 2022 election landscape. If da Silva runs for president next year, it could be difficult for a centrist candidate to emerge and would likely push Bolsonaro to implement more populist policies in the hopes of solidifying his base.

“Don’t be afraid of me, I am radical because I want to go to the root of this country’s problems,” da Silva said Wednesday.

Bolsonaro, the so-called “Trump of the Tropics,” faces fierce criticism of his handling of the pandemic. The country reported a record high of Covid-19 deaths Tuesday, with 1,972 new fatalities in 24 hours bringing the total toll to 268,370.

Speaking to press on Monday, Bolsonaro said he hoped Brazil’s Supreme Court would ultimately reverse the decision and restore da Silva’s convictions. He added that he didn’t think Brazilians wanted a presidential candidate like da Silva in 2022.

When he left office in 2011 after two terms, it was with a 90% approval rating — though his handpicked successor Dilma Rousseff was impeached for breaking budget laws during her second term, after her approval rate plummeted amid the corruption scandal engulfing the Workers Party.

The Curitiba court that originally convicted da Silva — led by Sergio Moro, later appointed justice minister by Bolsonaro — found that the former president benefited from the renovation of a triplex in a beach town near Sao Paulo by the construction company OAS, which was deeply implicated in the Petrobras bribery operation.

The charges were connected to 3.7 million reais’ ($1.1 million) worth of bribes received from OAS through the beachfront apartment. In return, da Silva helped the builder acquire contracts from the oil company, the prosecutor’s office said — charges he has long denied.