Lula, former president of Brazil, sentenced to nearly a decade in prison

By Brad Brooks 

Former Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a top contender to win next year's presidential election, has been sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison after being convicted on corruption charges today.

The ruling marked a stunning fall for Lula, who will remain free on appeal, and a serious blow to his chances of a political comeback.

Lula was Brazil's first working-class president and remains a popular figure among voters after he left office six years ago with an 83% approval rating.

The former union leader won global admiration for transformative social policies that helped reduce stinging inequality in Latin America's biggest country.

Former US President Barack Obama once labeled him the most popular politician on earth.

The verdict represented the highest-profile conviction yet in the sweeping corruption investigation that for over three years has rattled Brazil, revealing a sprawling system of graft at top levels of business and government and throwing the country's political system into disarray.

Judge Sergio Moro found Lula guilty of accepting 3.7 million reais (EC$3.07 million) worth of bribes from engineering firm OAS SA, the amount prosecutors said the company spent refurbishing a beach apartment for Lula in return for his help winning contracts with state oil company Petroleo Brasileiro.

Witch hunt?

Federal prosecutors have accused Lula, who first took the presidency in 2003, of masterminding a long-running corruption scheme that was uncovered in a probe into kickbacks around Petrobras.

Lula's legal team has previously said they would appeal any guilty ruling. They have continuously blasted the trial as a partisan witch hunt, accusing Moro of being biased and out to get Lula for political reasons.

Moro has denied the accusations.

Senator Gleisi Hoffmann, the head of the Workers Party, lashed out at the ruling, saying Lula was convicted to prevent him from running for the presidency next year.

She said the party would protest the decision and was confident the ruling would be overturned on appeal.

Lula would be barred from office if his guilty verdict is upheld by an appeals court, which is expected to take at least eight months to rule.

If he cannot run, political analysts say Brazil's left would be thrown into disarray, forced to rebuild and somehow find a leader who can emerge from the immense shadow that Lula has cast on Brazilian politics for three decades.

During his trial, Lula gave five hours of fiery and defiant defence, proclaiming his innocence and saying that it was politics and not the pilfering of public funds that put him on trial.

"But what is happening is not getting me down, just motivating me to go out and talk more," Lula said in his testimony.

"I will keep fighting."