Lula has already been exonerated by 11 witnesses in the Lava Jato corruption scandal.

GGN newspaper - In a statement, the lawyers for former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva assert that the hearings held this week in the 13th Federal Criminal Court of Curitiba (PR) formed a "quite different picture" from that presented by the initial accusation of the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office.

Lula and his wife, Marisa Letícia, were exonerated by eleven witnesses from the Federal Prosecutor's Office from the crimes alleged in the indictment. Among these witnesses are Delcídio do Amaral, Alberto Yousseff, Paulo Roberto Costa, and Nestor Cerveró.

According to the lawyers, the witnesses showed that the corruption investigated by Lava Jato is restricted to public and private agents who acted independently and in their own interests, "unrelated to the Presidency of the Republic."

"To conclude that Lula was at the center of this process, as the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office did, can only be an act of malicious voluntarism, without any basis in truth, which falls within the practices of lawfare - which is the use of law and legal procedures for purposes of political persecution," the lawyers state, concluding that "it is possible to foresee" that the only outcome of the process will be the acquittal of the former president and his wife.

Read the full text of the statement below:

"Notice

A picture emerges that is quite different from the initial accusation by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, after the hearings held in the 13th Federal Criminal Court of Curitiba this week (November 21st to 25th), within the scope of the criminal action that attributes to former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva the obtaining of undue advantages from three contracts signed between OAS and Petrobras, notably through the acquisition of ownership of a triplex apartment in Guarujá (SP).

The 11 witnesses for the Federal Prosecutor's Office exonerated Lula and his wife Marisa Leticia from committing the crimes alleged in the indictment, and, more than that, revealed that the focus of corruption targeted by Lava Jato is restricted to a few public and private agents, who acted independently, governed by the dynamics of their own interests, and unrelated to the Presidency of the Republic.

When directly questioned, the witnesses (Augusto Ribeiro de Mendonça Neto, Dalton dos Santos Avancini, Eduardo Hermelino Leite, Delcidio do Amaral, Pedro Corrêa, Paulo Roberto Costa, Nestor Cerveró, Pedro Barusco, Alberto Youssef, Fernando Soares, and Milton Paskowich) made no statement that could confirm the prosecution's thesis that places Lula at the center of the process of obtaining undue advantages within Petrobras, much less in relation to the three contracts indicated in the indictment. It was equally clear that these witnesses were unaware of Lula's connection to the Guarujá triplex. As we have always stated, the former President does not possess, much less own, this property.

The testimonies reposition the results obtained by Lava Jato in a different light. The focus of corruption is restricted to a few private companies, some Petrobras executives, and also some political agents. This focus of corruption was hermetic and operated fundamentally within the price range approved by the Petrobras Board of Directors, based on international parameters, which gave it an aura of apparent normality.

Therefore, this focus of corruption was not identified by any internal control body (internal audit, Fiscal Council, among others) or external body (external audit, CGU, TCU) of Petrobras, as also acknowledged by some of the witnesses heard. To conclude that Lula was at the center of this process, as the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office did, can only be an act of malicious voluntarism, without any basis in truth, which falls within the practices of lawfare – which is the use of law and legal procedures for purposes of political persecution.

There was no minimum evidentiary basis whatsoever for opening this criminal case against Lula and his wife, much less with the fanfare made by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office – which used a reprehensible PowerPoint presentation on national television. At this stage of the proceedings, it is already possible to foresee that the only legitimate outcome of this process is the acquittal of both.