IN DEFENCE OF FORMER PRESIDENT LULA #StandWithLula WHILE TRYING TO FIND A CRIME - ANY CRIME - TO CONVICT LULA IN THE COURTS, OPPONENTS OF BRAZIL’s MOST IMPORTANT POLITICAL LEADER ENGAGE IN A TRIAL BY MEDIA, IN THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY DEFAMATION CAMPAIGN AGAINST A PUBLIC FIGURE IN THE HISTORY OF THE COUNTRY. For more than 40 years in pub- vestigators, Federal tax authorities travel, what aircraft was used, who lic service, every aspect of former and even judges have been fran- accompanied him, where he stayed President Lula’s life has been thor- tically engaged in this process, in and with whom he spoke, includ- oughly vetted: political, fiscal, finan- complicity with the monopolies in ing heads of state and government. cial and even his personal life. No the media and professionals of du- They investigated the lectures and Brazilian politician has ever been bious journalistic reputation. even the gifts that Lula received investigated for so long: by the se- In the absence of formal charges, when he was president. curity agents of the dictatorship, the since Lula has always acted within And they found absolutely noth- press, his political opponents and, the law, they foment a trial by media ing to link Lula to the Petrobras by congressional committees dur- that is unfair and unbalanced - with- corruption scandal, the Lava Jato ing his two terms. out the right of response or rebuttal. investigaton or any other illegal Despite the false charges that he Rumors, inferences and selective in- activity. No questionable depos- has suffered, nothing has ever been vestigative leaks are released with its no offshore accounts, no front shown to be wrong with Lula’s life great fanfare, a true moral and polit- companies, not one penny was not because he has always acted with- ical lynching. honestly earned and declared for in the law - before, during and after It is clear that the goal of the mass the payment of taxes. having been president of Brazil. media and the most retrograde sec- Not even the confessed defend- Only the dictatorship dared to con- tors of Brazil is to take the former pres- ants in the Lava Jato investigation, vict and jail Lula in 1980, under the ident to Court in an obvious attempt who made deals for reductions in infamous National Security Law. His to keep Lula from being able to partic- criminal and financial penalties in crime of “subversion” was fighting ipate in the Brazilian political process. exchange for information, dared to for democracy and the rights of They violated Lula’s banking and say that Lula participated directly workers. fiscal records, and those of his fami- or indirectly in the Petrobras cor- Since the re-election of President ly, his public-speaking company and ruption scandal. And this is terribly Dilma Rousseff, in October 2014, the Lula Institute. They electronically frustrating for the hunters of the Lula has become the target of a ver- wiretapped Lula’s calls, those of his former president. itable judicial witch-hunt. Politicized family, his staff and even those of In the absence of proof, evidence agents of the state, the Public Prose- his attorneys. In the early morning or reliable witnesses, Lula’s perse- cutors Office, the Federal Police and hours they raided and searched Lu- cutors submit the former president the Judiciary, were mobilized to try la’s house, the homes of his children to a number of arbitrary constraints and find a crime - any crime - with and the Lula Institute. that violate not only his constitu- which to charge Lula and try him in They investigated all of the inter- tional rights, but the principles of the courts. national travel by the former presi- the democratic rule of law, threat- Dozens of prosecutors, police in- dent – to discover who paid for the ening the entire society. OVER THESE TWO YEARS, THESE RIGHts OF THE LULA: LEGAL authorities that found nothing irregular in the FORMER PRESIDENT TARGET PRACTICE Lula Institute or the LILS HAVE BEEN The successive and arbitrary attacks company; on Lula occured in an atmosphere of a • Breaking the seal of the VIOlatED: legal and quasi-legal attack on several fiscal and banking accounts • the right to fair treatment and the different fronts simultaneously, which held by Lula, the Lula, presumption of innocence; suggests an orchestrated persecution. Institute, the LILS company Over these two years, the former and 12 individuals and • the right to an impartial judge 38 companies owned by President, his family, the Lula In- and a fair prosecutor; people connected to the stitute and his LILS speaking com- • the right to examine the contents former President; pany have become the object of: of the investigations and full • Access to telephone and access to the charges, which communications over has been recognized by the • 3 investigations opened the internet by Lula, his National Council of the Public by federal prosecutors for family, the Directors of the Prosecutor’s Office; alleged (and nonexistent) Lula Institute; even Lula’s • the right to confidential charges concerning real estate attorneys were affected by communications with lawyers; that Lula does not own and this illegal activity; as recognized by Supreme Court lectures giveni n accordance with the law; • 38 search and seizure Justice Teori Zavaski; warrants were executed • the right to confidential • 1 criminal prosecution in the homes of Lula and telephone communications; also concerning the same facts, his family, employees and recognized by Supreme Court charged by State Prosecutors directors of the Institute, Justice Teori Zavaski; of the State of São Paulo; people connected to him, carried out with the abuse • the right to preserve the • 1 investigation opened by of authority, illegal seizures confidentiality of his personal Federal Prosecutors in Brasilia, and sequester of the e-mail financial, fiscal and banking concerning the international server of the Lula Institute; data entrusted to agencies of the travels of the former President; state and the Justice system; • 1 investigation by the Federal Politically motivated agents of the • the right not to be investigated Prosecutor-General to State carried out a veritable target indefinitely beyond legal investigate facts related to practice, attacking the Lula Insti- Lava Jato Operation; or reasonable limits for the tute simultaneously on several le- reporting or presentation of • 1 criminal investigation gal fronts for the same allegations, charges; proposed by the Federal which is unconstitutional, as well Prosecutor General for the • the right to privacy and the as an affront to the universal prin- preservation of his image, alleged (and nonexistent) ciples of law, adopted by Brazil in provided for in Article 5 of the attempts of the obstruction of Constitution of Brazil. Justice; international treaties. For example: the Attorney Gener- • the right to reply in the media; • 1 criminal investigation proposed by the Federal al of the Republic, Rodrigo Janot, • the political right to engage in Prosecutors in Brasilia to included the former President in public service, for which he has investigate alleged (and non- an investigation into corruption in always been prepared, denied existent) favors to one of the Petrobras by the Supreme Court. by Supreme Court Justice sons of the former president Gilmar Mendes; and even the in proposing Provisional At the same time, he requested the right to come and go, without Measures for approval by the transfer of the case to the Court of the risk of a warrant for his arrest Congress Judge Sergio Moro, for investiga- and no legal justification for his tions that deal with the same facts, forceful “invitation” to give a • 3 police investigations opened statement to the investigators by the Federal Police in Brasília which means a double investiga- and in Paraná; on March 4, 2016. tion of former President Lula. • 2 Federal Audits by the fiscal ARBITRARY Judge Sergio Moro illegally tapped him as if he has been convicted. and released private phone conversa- The result of the combined actions of AND ABUSIVE tions between former President Lula, the agencies of the State and mass me- PERSECUTION his wife, Marisa Leticia, and their chil- dia is the largest oppressive propagan- Over the last 12 months, Lula has dren, along with various interlocutors da operation ever made against a public given testimony 5 times to the Federal that have nothing to do with the facts figure in Brazil. It is a lynching in the legal Police and the Federal Attorney Gener- investigated, including a conversation system and the masss media and an in- al’s Office and offered written testimony with the President of the Republic, Dilma citement to hatred against the greatest to 2 investigations. Rousseff. Brazilian political leader in modern times. Despite having complied with all war- This illegal leak – expressly con- Lula is being persecuted because he rants and requests and having provided demned as such by Supreme Court Jus- cannot be beaten at the polls. And de- clarification to authorities voluntarily, on tice Teori Zavaski – was manipulated by spite the systematic legal-media smear March 4 of this year Lula was subjected the media in order to prevent Lula from campaign, Lula is still considered in the to an illegal, arbitrary, unjustified and assuming the post of Minister of the Civ- polls as the best President Brazil has ever coercive summons to make a statement il Cabinet (Chief-of Staff), to which had had, in addition to leading the opinion – truly a kidnapping by the Lava Jato Op- been nominated a few hours before the polls as a future presidential candidate. eration task force. unlawful disclosure. Lula was the target of a request for No Brazilian political leader had his LULA DOESN’T FLEE pre-trial detention, an even more illegal, or her private life, their bank accounts FROM JUSTICE; less justifiable and arbitrary action, by the or their movements so thoroughly State Prosecutors of São Paulo, which searched.