Lula doesn't fit in 15 square meters because he's the size of Brazil.

The streets of Brazil, the will and the cry of a people cannot fit into 15 square meters. It is not possible to contain in 15 square meters the greatness of a man who, a year ago, even without evidence and in defiance of the Constitution, was confined to a room barely larger than those vans produced by automakers like those in São Bernardo do Campo, the city where the political history of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva began, merging with the history of the country's redemocratization and changing the landscape of misery, injustice, and social inequality for the majority of poor Brazilians.

I entered that room. Twice I had the sad honor of visiting former President Lula in his makeshift cell inside the Federal Police headquarters in Curitiba, where they are trying to separate the most popular president this country has ever had from the people, the voters, and his family. I entered indignant at seeing Lula unjustly confined, but I left even more convinced of his importance to democracy, sovereignty, and the growth of Brazil, and to a better life for all Brazilians.

Those 365 days of imprisonment didn't change Lula. It was Brazil that changed, for the worse, after those images of the former president leaving the ABC Metalworkers' Union under the escort of federal police. I was there then and I also saw the scene that, for sure, has already gone down in history as one of the greatest injustices ever committed in this country, and in the world.

In this past year, I witnessed Lula's imprisonment, I suffered seeing his adversaries gloat over the pain of those who respect and admire the former president. I saw Lula prevented from attending the wake for his brother Vavá and, a few days later, mourn the death of his grandson Arthur, in a wake guarded by troops of police officers with rifles, while, all around, the people shouted for the former president's freedom. The media made sure to show all of this: arbitrary conviction, imprisonment, pain, suffering, testimonies, lies, attacks, leaked hearings, informants without evidence.

But I also saw what the media tries to hide and what the former president's detractors pretend not to see: the "Free Lula" banner present at every event, demonstration, protest, factory gate assembly, caravan, and march across Brazil. In teachers' strikes or metalworkers' marches; in schools, theaters, social media, in Brazil and the free world, Lula's face and the hashtag #FreeLula are present, without the demonstration being exclusively for the former president's freedom.

Because Lula perfectly represents the people's struggle for better living conditions, work, wages, education, health, social security, freedoms, and human rights. He is a man who catalyzes and translates, in his history and governments, the fulfilled desires of the people. That is why every struggle bears Lula's face, and Lula embodies the face of the struggle.

As a citizen, I had the joy of seeing Lula ascend the ramp of the Planalto Palace wearing the presidential sash twice, and I only didn't see him do so a third time because the financial and business elite, with the support of the media and the complicity of a portion of the Judiciary, prevented it by fabricating a crime that never occurred: that of owning a triplex apartment that was never in his name. A property auctioned off for 2,2 million reais, a small amount compared to a man who, in just one night, with the power of his name, saw an auction of photographs raise more than 600 reais for the "Free Lula" campaign.

What other former president or politician could get 40 renowned photographers to donate their work to help fight for Lula's freedom? What other man would receive over 600 visits in his cell from all over the world – from the Pope's advisor to Buddhist monks, from the octogenarian Martinho da Vila to young students? What politician, in these days of political denial, would fill the Candelária church, Paulista Avenue, the beaches of Salvador and Rio de Janeiro, the streets of Recife and Porto Alegre with men and women of all ages, creeds, and races shouting for his freedom? What leader would unite other parties in defense of his freedom?

Lula is the answer. Lula is the man, and that's why he's in prison.

At the time of the former president's arrest, a major news portal wrote: "Lula, end of the line." A year later, it is proven that no judge, prosecutor seeking the spotlight, or divided judiciary can determine when Lula will cease to occupy the minds and hearts of Brazilians as the only president who made Brazil less unequal. I could list hundreds of facts and figures here to remind us of the magnitude of Lula's public and political work. I will not. They are all in the annals of history and are indisputable. Lula needs no graphs or introductions. The world knows him, and not just from prison.

The collusion of capitalist and neoliberal interests that thought it had buried Lula alive only made him even bigger. Because Lula has the people to say "good morning," "good afternoon," and "good night" to him every day at the vigil next to the Federal Police headquarters in Curitiba. Lula has hundreds of letters to read in his involuntary solitude. Lula has the news on TV and television, which, even against their will, are forced to mention his name. Lula has the accounts of his lawyers and friends telling him how the people haven't forgotten him, whether on social media with his hashtag #FreeLula.

Lula has the support of a large part of the legal community, both in Brazil and abroad, which denounced and repudiated his arbitrary imprisonment and witnessed a government ignoring the UN recommendation to release him. The courts are turning a deaf ear, and his adversaries tremble with fear at the possibility of Lula leaving prison.

Lula could have left Brazil before being imprisoned; he could have lived in any country he chose, far from the prejudice and intolerance of the elite who never accepted a working-class man as President of the Republic and who, for 30 years, have been trying to deny the greatest political, electoral, and popular phenomenon in Brazilian history.

Throughout this past year, Lula has been present in the lives of Brazilians who have achieved a better life thanks to the actions and advancements implemented during the Lula and Dilma governments. Condemning and imprisoning him was a strategically orchestrated act, but it was also the desperation of those who fear Lula's words and popular leadership. They will never succeed in imprisoning him because, as he himself says, "you can't imprison an idea."

Our journey to free the former president only grows stronger and more intense. Lula must be freed, not because he is the best president this country has ever had, but because Lula is innocent. Our struggle is crucial not only for Lula's freedom, but also for the justice he deserves.

Free Lula!