Humberto: the people know that Lula is facing fierce persecution.
"The Brazilian people are aware that Lula is facing fierce persecution. People want Lula back. It's a very strong movement. But we need to keep fighting to get Lula released. With Lula as president, our people will once again have a voice and a say," stated the leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Humberto Costa (PT-PE).
Pernambuco 247 - The leader of the opposition in the Senate, Humberto Costa (PT-PE), again criticized the imprisonment of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, convicted in the triplex apartment case in Guarujá (SP).
"The Brazilian people are aware that Lula is facing fierce persecution. People want Lula back. It's a very strong movement. But we need to keep fighting to get Lula released. With Lula as president, our people will once again have a voice and a say," said the congressman, who was in the city of Jaqueira, in the Zona da Mata region of Pernambuco.
Even while imprisoned, the former president has been leading the polls since April. The first presidential survey of the year by Ibope, commissioned by the CNI and released at the end of last month, showed the former president in first place with 33% of the votes, more than double that of the second-placed candidate, federal deputy Jair Bolsonaro (PSL), with 15%, followed by former senator Marina Silva, of Rede (7%).
Another survey, released in May, found that, for 66% of Brazilians, Brazil "remained the same" after the imprisonment of former president Lula, and for 22,3%, the country "worsened".
According to the Paraná Research Institute, only 9% believe that Brazil has improved since Lula was arrested. The survey was conducted with 2.002 voters in 154 municipalities across 26 states and the Federal District between April 27 and May 2.
The former president was convicted in the Guarujá (SP) triplex apartment case. According to the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, Lula was to receive a renovated apartment from the construction company OAS. However, in presenting the indictment in September 2016, prosecutor Henrique Pozzobon admitted that there was no "conclusive proof" that the former president was the owner of the property.
"We need to say from the outset that, when it comes to money laundering, that is, when it comes to an attempt to maintain the appearance of legality, we will not have conclusive proof here that Lula is the actual owner on paper of the apartment, because the very fact that he does not appear as the owner of the triplex, the penthouse in Guarujá, is a form of concealment, a dissimulation of the true ownership," stated the prosecutor.