Sao Paulo, Brazil, Mar 10, 2021 / 16:18 pm America/Denver (CNA).
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.
The Attorney General’s Office said it will appeal Fachin’s ruling, “which would take the individual decision of the magistrate to the plenary session of the 11 member Supreme Court, or to the Second Chamber of the (Supreme) court, which would have to uphold or reverse this Monday’s ruling,” the BBC stated.