Brazil judge strips Lula of office amid mounting political crisis

A supreme court judge in Brazil has blocked the former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s appointment to cabinet, paving the way for him to face corruption charges in court. Judge Gilmar Mendes wrote that Lula’s appointment to cabinet was clearly designed to allow him to avoid possible imprisonment by a lower court judge. Lula’s appointment to cabinet on Wednesday, which sparked protests in several cities, means only the supreme court can investigate him, placing him beyond the reach of a crusading judge heading Brazil’s biggest ever graft probe into corruption at state oil company Petrobras. “The goal of the falsity is clear: prevent the carrying out of preventative arrest order” against Silva being considered by a lower court, Mendes wrote in his ruling. “It would be plausible to conclude that the appointment and subsequent swearing-in could constitute fraud of the constitution.” It puts an end, temporarily at least, to the legal ping-pong of the past 36 hours that saw Lula win and lose ministerial status several times, as judges from across Brazil filed over 50 injunctions against his appointment to cabinet The solicitor-general, José Eduardo Cardozo, said the government would appeal Mendes’ decision to the entire supreme court. The court’s next meeting is scheduled for 30 March. The ruling to block Lula’s appointment came minutes after he rallied tens of thousands of supporters behind his embattled successor Dilma Rousseff. In front of a crowd of 95,000 in São Paulo’s Avenida Paulista, Lula made a conciliatory speech that eschewed criticism of his opponents and called on his supporters to avoid provocations. He said said that he only accepted the government position to help Rousseff for the remaining two years of her mandate. “I want a country without hatred,” he shouted over the crowd’s chants of “there’s not going to be a coup.” “What we need to do is bring back peace and hope, and to prove that this country is better than anything on earth,” he said. One of those listening was Marilia Fernandes, a 37-year-old history teacher: “There are criticisms to be made against the [ruling] PT [Partido dos Trabalhdores],” she said. “A lot of the left was forgotten. But they improved the lives of the neediest. I was an adolescent in the 1990s. Brazil was a very different place back then. Brazil managed to eradicate starvation and infant mortality,” Fernandes said. Many of those present at the rally criticised the coverage of this week’s developments by TV Globo, Brazil’s dominant television network that thrived during the country’s period of military rule from 1964-1985. In contrast to the extensive airtime given to the opposition protests over the past week, the coverage of Friday’s demonstrations – thought to have included 275,000 people across the country – was relatively low-key. Earlier in the day, police had used water cannon to clear anti-government protesters from the street in São Paulo in an attempt to avoid confrontation between competing groups of demonstrators. But opposition activists were largely absent from the streets, though one government sympathiser was punched in the face on his way home by a man claiming the crowd were all thieves. In the capital, Brasília, a crowd of government supporters and sympathisers marched towards congress, which held its first session to discuss the impeachment of Rousseff earlier in the day. The president has 10 sessions in the lower house to present her defence and the decision to hold a session on Friday meant the clock has started on those, even though the special impeachment committee did not meet. A vote on Rousseff’s fate is expected by mid April. The case against her centres on allegations that Rousseff broke budget rules to boost spending as she campaigned for re-election in 2014. Lula and Rousseff both deny any wrongdoing. Rousseff’s main coalition party, the fractious Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), has brought forward to March 29 a meeting of its executive to decide whether to break with her government and seek her impeachment. Amongst the crowd of government supporters outside congress in Brasília was 29-year-old teacher, Rodrigo Santaella, who said that he had never voted for the ruling party, Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT), but that he was participating in support of democracy. “I consider myself left-wing, but I am not here to support the government,” he said. “I am here to deter fascism and the rise of the right in Brazil.” Thanks for reading.

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