Lula free to take on Bolsonaro as Brazil court upholds ruling

The Brazilian Supreme Court upheld a ruling that overturned former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's conviction, paving the way for him to be elected to a new presidential term next year against incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.

The majority decision, which was widely expected, came on Thursday after Supreme Court Judge Edson Fachin ruled in early March that the lower federal court where Lula was tried did not have jurisdiction; a decision quickly appealed by Brazil's chief prosecutor.

The verdict does not find Lula innocent but places the prosecutors back by sending the cases to another court.

The disappearance of Lula's convictions - albeit on procedural grounds - lifted Brazilian politics when President Jair Bolsonaro of the far-right president acted to be re-elected as the COVID-19 pandemic, the largest country in Latin America.

Bolsonaro described a virus that killed more than 365,000 Brazilians, the world's second highest death rate, as a "small flu". Following Fachin's ruling, Lula described Bolsonaro's approach to the pandemic as "imbecilic" and compared the situation to a genocide.

A popular but influential left-wing politician and former steel worker, the now 75-year-old Lula, led Brazil in an economic boom from 2003 to 2010.

His lawyers call the judges' ruling 'historic'.

"This is another ruling of the Supreme Court that reaffirms the credibility of the legal system in our country," they said in a declaration.

Bolsonaro, a former army captain who is 66, said the verdict means 'Lula is now a candidate' for 2022 - and ominously warned of the consequences.

"Look at what the future of Brazil will be like with the kind of people he will bring into the presidency," the current president said in his weekly live speech on Facebook.

"You can all draw your own conclusions."

Lula was convicted of bribing engineering firms in exchange for public contracts in 2018 and spent a year and a half behind bars until the Supreme Court ordered he and others could review their cases without working time in jail.