Portuguese MPs send letter to the Supreme Court: "Lula is a political prisoner"

247, with Resistance - At the initiative of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) Parliamentary Group in the Portuguese Assembly of the Republic, 22 deputies from the PCP, the Left Bloc (BE), the Socialist Party (PS), and the Ecologist Party "The Greens" (PEV) signed an appeal to the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court (STF) to "restore the minimum acceptable conditions for the functioning of the democratic rule of law in the process affecting President Lula da Silva, ordering his release and guaranteeing the full exercise of his fundamental rights."

The document was sent this Monday (9) to the STF. Read the full text below.

APPEAL

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, recognized worldwide for the progress made in Brazil during his presidency, particularly in reducing social inequalities by lifting tens of millions of Brazilians out of poverty, is currently imprisoned at the Federal Police headquarters in Curitiba.

As has been widely denounced, the trial in which President Lula da Silva was convicted did not respect the most basic rules of a state governed by the rule of law. His right to defense was severely curtailed, with the disregard of evidence and the refusal of investigative measures requested by his lawyers, and he was convicted by a judge who openly publicizes his political opposition to Lula da Silva, making evident his lack of impartiality in judging him fairly.

Furthermore, the imprisonment of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is taking place before the final judgment of the judicial decision, calling into question the principle of presumption of innocence universally recognized in criminal proceedings, and even contradicting the jurisprudence established by the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil, with the existence of a politically motivated judicial trickery aimed at preventing Lula da Silva from running in the presidential elections being public and notorious.

Lula da Silva is now recognized worldwide as a political prisoner. No one is unaware that the legal proceedings against him, the exceptional procedures followed, his conviction without evidence, and the conditions under which he is held in prison, serve only the purpose of preventing his candidacy in the presidential elections taking place this year in Brazil, seriously harming his fundamental rights, contributing to the disrepute of the Brazilian judicial system, and seriously jeopardizing democracy in Brazil.

Under these circumstances, the Members of Parliament of the Portuguese Republic appeal to the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil to restore the minimum acceptable conditions for the functioning of the democratic rule of law in the process affecting President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, ordering his release and guaranteeing the full exercise of his fundamental rights.

Assembly of the Republic, June 29, 2018

The deputies:

António Filipe (PCP, Vice-President of the Parliamentary Group, Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees)

Carla Cruz (PCP, Foreign Affairs Committee)

Fernando Anastácio (PS, Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees)

Fernando Rocha Andrade (PS, Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees)

Heloísa Apolónia (PEV, President of the Parliamentary Group)

Isabel Moreira (PS, Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees)

Joana Mortágua (BE)

João Barroso Soares (PS)

João Oliveira (PCP – President of the Parliamentary Group)

Jorge Costa (BE)

Jorge Machado (PCP, Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees)

José Luís Ferreira (PEV, Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees)

José Manuel Pureza (BE, Vice-President of the Assembly of the Republic, Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees)

Luis Monteiro (BE)

Moses Ferreira (BE)

Paula Santos (PCP, Vice-President of the Parliamentary Group)

Paulo Pisco (PS, Foreign Affairs Committee)

Pedro Bacelar de Vasconcelos (PS, President of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees)

Pedro Filipe Soares (BE, President of the Parliamentary Group)

Rita Rato (PCP)

Tiago Barbosa Ribeiro (PS)

Wanda Guimarães (PS)