Show Menu
Brasil de Fato
PORTUGUESE
Listen to BdF Radio
  • Support
  • Podcasts
  • TV BDF
  • |
  • Politics
  • Brazil
  • BRICS
  • Climate
  • Struggles
  • Opinion
  • Interviews
  • Culture
No Result
View All Result
Show Menu
Brasil de Fato
  • Support
  • Podcasts
  • TV BDF
  • |
  • Politics
  • Brazil
  • BRICS
  • Climate
  • Struggles
  • Opinion
  • Interviews
  • Culture
Show Menu
Listen to BdF Radio
No Result
View All Result
Brasil de Fato
Home English

PROTEST

Hunger strikers call Supreme Court to review petition that could free Lula

Activists, religious leaders, and supporters pile pressure on chief justice to put petitions on the top court’s calendar

17.Aug.2018 às 13h16
Updated on 01.Feb.2020 às 18h44
Brasília
Cristiane Sampaio
Activists staging hunger strike during interreligious ceremony outside the Supreme Court building in Brasília

Activists staging hunger strike during interreligious ceremony outside the Supreme Court building in Brasília - Cristiane Sampaio

“A new day will come / a new sky, a new land, new fresh air / and on this day, the oppressed / freedom in unison will chant.” The words were heard outside the Supreme Court building in the capital city of Brazil, Brasília, where an interreligious rally to support ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s freedom was being held.

To support the seven activists from people’s movements who have been staging a hunger strike for more than two weeks, religious believers and other supporters came together to demand Cármen Lúcia, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, move three petitions – called ADCs – that question the imprisonment of defendants while their cases are still appealable. This is the case, for example, of former Brazilian president Lula, who has been in prison since Apr. 7.

Demonstrators lighted candles and the Capuchin friar Wilson Zanatta talked about how light symbolizes people's hope that the ex-president will be freed.

“We want to hear those words so that the word of God can enlighten us, brighten us up, so that we can be sure where we are going and what we are building,” he said during the celebration, about the chants demonstrators were singing.

Another supporter who took part in the rally was Maria Fernanda Coelho, a former president of state-owned bank Caixa Econômica Federal. She commended the activists who are depriving themselves of food to protest against Lula’s imprisonment.

“I understand that what they are doing is peaceful, yet very powerful, and you have to have so much love in your heart to make a decision like this,” she said.

Not only ex-president Lula, but also around 150,000 people are imprisoned while their case is still pending appeal.

João Pedro Stedile, from the national board of the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST), spoke about how important it is for chief justice Cármen Lúcia to give top priority to the matter.

Stedile said they hope the chief justice will really make a commitment to respect the Constitution. "May she have the courage to call all Supreme Court justices to vote on the ADC and respect the Constitution, according to which no Brazilians can be imprisoned while their cases are still appealable. Everyone has the right to the presumption of innocence.”

Three similar ADC petitions were filed with the Supreme Court, one of which by the Communist Party of Brazil in April.

Edited by: Cecília Figueiredo
Read in:
Portuguese
Tags: landless workers' movementlulamst
loader
BdF Newsletter
I have read and agree to the terms of use and privacy policy.

More News

Vijay Prashad

The Global North lives off intellectual rents

Global South

Combination of Brazilian and Chinese technologies could boost agroecological production

Africa

Understanding the impacts of nationalizing the electrical industry and the uranium production in Niger

Analysis

Tax on Financial Transactions represents ‘major defeat for Lula’s government’ in Brazil, says political scientist

Far right

Defendant in Supreme Court for coup attempt, Bolsonaro challenges Justice and draws up 2026 campaign for president in Brazil

HATE SPEECH

Brazil’s Supreme Court decides platforms must be held accountable for user content in social media

All original content produced and editorially authored by Brasil de Fato may be reproduced, provided it is not altered and proper credit is given.

No Result
View All Result
  • Support
  • Podcasts
  • TV BDF
  • Politics
  • Brazil
  • BRICS
  • Climate
  • Struggles
  • Opinion
  • Interviews
  • Culture

All original content produced and editorially authored by Brasil de Fato may be reproduced, provided it is not altered and proper credit is given.