How the judicial process that jailed Lula and then freed him unfolded

Argentine President Javier Milei's recent remarks labeling Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva a "thief and corrupt" have brought renewed attention to the controversial legal proceedings that led to Lula's imprisonment and subsequent release. Milei suggested Lula was freed due to procedural errors, not innocence.

Lula's legal saga, particularly his involvement in the Lava Jato (Car Wash) anti-corruption operation, remains a subject of intense discussion. While Lula has never been formally acquitted or declared innocent, he currently faces no active convictions. The Supreme Federal Court (STF) overturned two rulings that had sent him to prison in 2021. The court found that former judge Sergio Moro had acted with bias and that the cases had been processed in a court lacking proper jurisdiction.

The original convictions stemmed from accusations of passive corruption and money laundering. In July 2017, then-judge Moro sentenced Lula to over nine years in prison, a decision later confirmed and increased to over 12 years by an appellate court. These convictions were based on allegations that Lula had received a beachfront apartment as a bribe in exchange for favoring a construction company involved in Petrobras corruption schemes. Another case involving alleged renovations to a country house also proceeded against him.

Moro ordered Lula's arrest after the conviction was confirmed by the second instance court. Lula surrendered to police on April 7, 2018, and spent 580 days in detention. However, a significant shift occurred in November 2019 when the STF, by a narrow margin, ruled that individuals could only be imprisoned after exhausting all possible appeals. This ruling, though not exclusively targeting Lula, paved the way for his release in November 2020. The evidence in his cases was never re-evaluated on its merits; instead, the proceedings were terminated due to the statute of limitations.