Fachin acts against democracy to keep Lula in prison.

Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin dashed the latest expectations of the majority of the Brazilian people on Friday night, the 22nd, who hoped to see former President Lula released from his political imprisonment, which has already lasted 75 days. 

In his decision regarding Lula's appeal, Fachin stated that the outcome of the admissibility review by the TRF-4 (Regional Federal Court of the 4th Region) prevents the Supreme Court from reviewing the case. In other words, with a court that has clearly shown bias in the former president's conviction and no intention of proceeding with the defense's actions, Lula remains imprisoned.

Fachin maneuvered to keep Lula imprisoned and eliminated, or temporarily postponed, the analysis of the case by the Second Panel of the Supreme Court, which last week signaled a shift in the absolutism of the Curitiba courts, deciding in the trial of Senator Gleisi Hoffmann that plea bargains alone are not sufficient to demonstrate guilt. 

Lula's case is very similar to Gleisi's. As widely denounced by national and international jurists, Lula's guilt was not proven in the Guarujá triplex case, and his conviction was based on the convictions of the Public Prosecutor's Office and the testimony of businessman Leo Pinheiro, from OAS, the construction company that offered the triplex as collateral in a deal with Caixa Econômica Federal. 

Why didn't Fachin wait for the Supreme Court's Second Panel to analyze the case? Simple, if the conviction were suspended, Lula could leave prison immediately and also run for election. Most likely winning in the first round. 

The will of a Supreme Court Justice cannot override that of millions of Brazilians. No matter how much legal basis the decision may have—which it doesn't—keeping Lula imprisoned for all this time, with the sole objective of eliminating his presidential candidacy, is to confiscate the power that emanates from the Brazilian people. 

This episode shows once again that Lula's freedom will not come from the Three Powers Square. The will expressed in polls, such as that of Datafolha, needs to materialize in the streets, through popular pressure.