Sao Paulo, Brazil, Mar 10, 2021 / 16:18 pm
The former president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, thanked Pope Francis for his solidarity on Wednesday, after his prison sentences were annulled.
Lula was serving a 12-year sentence for corruption and money laundering. According to the BBC, the ex-president was also sentenced 17 years on another charge and a third case is yet unresolved.
"I want to thank Pope Francis (@Pontifex_pt) that when I was in prison he made a point of sending me a letter. And for having me at the Vatican as soon as I left prison for a conversation about combating hunger and inequality," the former Brazilian president wrote on Twitter March 10.
The BBC reported March 8 that Federal Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin nullified all the convictions handed down against Lula by the federal court in Paraná state, which was part of the anti-corruption investigation Operation Car Wash.