THE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Thursday, in the spirit of internationalism, extended its hand of solidarity to former Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, on his acquittal and exoneration from corruption charges by the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC), the highest human rights adjudicatory body in the world.
National Record reported that UNHRC had asserted that Lula was victim of biased judge, and therefore did not receive a fair trial in the judgment that led to his 580-day imprisonment; a position which vindicated the popular former Brazilian leader who had consistently held that his trial and subsequent conviction on corruption charges was politically motivated.
The UNHRC said after six years of analysis, it has established that former judge, Sergio Moro, was biased in his rulings against Lula. UNHRC also concluded that Lula’s political rights were violated in 2018, when he was barred from contesting the elections.
The final decision of the committee as well as the recommendations for reparations will be presented next May, after a meeting between the body’s 18 legal expert members.
The NLC, in a statement signed by Comrade Ayuba Wabba, rejoiced with Brazilian workers, urging them not to despair at Lula’s ordeals in the hands of organised capital and their neo-liberal agents, but to be inspired by his latest vindication which should be an added impetus to Lula’s aspiration to become the next President of Brazil “when the calamitous reign of Mr Bolsonaro comes to an end.”
The full statement, entitled: “The Vindication of Lula – A Victory for the Global Working Class,” reads:
It was President John F. Kennedy who said, “Our goal is not the victory of might but the vindication of right”. This statement resonates perfectly with the odyssey of another President, HE Comrade Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the 35th President of the Federal Republic of Brazil and former President of CUT Brazil – the counterpart of the NLC.
It could be recalled that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was elected the President of Brazil in 2002 and re-elected in 2006 on the platform of the Workers Party by some unprecedented vote margins. In his two terms as the President of Brazil, President Lula implemented some of the most extensive and progressive social welfare intervention public programs including the famed Bosla Familia and Fome Zero. These programs helped to remove about 20 million Brazilians from poverty.
Not comfortable with Lula’s surging popularity which also saw the election of his Chief of Staff, Dilma Rousseff, as his successor in office, right wing politicians schemed on framing Comrade Lula with trumped charges of official corruption. In the now infamous Car Wash Corruption Investigation initiated by the Federal Police of Brazil’s Curitiba Branch and headed by Judge Sergio Moro, Lula was subjected to a most invasive and repulsive investigation. Despite Lula’s repeated appeals that his trial was stage-managed to arrive at a certain conviction and confinement to imprisonment, the trial judge went ahead to fulfill all the witch-hunting claims made by Lula. Consequent on Lula’s unjust conviction by Sergio Moro’s Kangaroo trial, he was excluded from participating in the 2018 Brazilian general election.
The unfair trial and unjust incarceration of President Lula da Silva was rejected and contested by the global working-class solidarity. This was owing to revelations and cruel happenstances that trailed his conviction including the appointment of Sergio Moro who led the witch-hunt against Lula as the Minister of Justice and Public Security by the greatest beneficiary of Lula’s political travails, President Jair Bolsonaro. Owing to persistent outcry and protests by various labour centres affiliated to the International Trade Union Confederation including the Nigeria Labour Congress, the truth finally prevailed.
In November 2019, the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil ruled that Lula’s incarcerations with pending appeals were unlawful. Consequent on this ruling, Lula was released from prison. The great march of the truth had just begun! In March 2021, Brazil’s Supreme Court Judge, Justice Edson Fachin ruled that all of Lula’s convictions must be nullified because he was tried by a court that did not have proper jurisdiction over his case. Fachin’s ruling, which was confirmed by other Supreme Court Justices in April 2021, restored Lula’s political rights to contest for any political office of his choice. The Supreme Federal Court ruled also in March 2021 that Judge Moro who oversaw Lula’s corruption trial, was biased. It was on this premise that a Magistrate in Brazil’s Supreme Court on 24th June 2022 annulled all the charges brought against Lula.
In an act that could be described as the icing of the cake of the proof of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s innocence, the United Nations Human Rights Committee ruled in Lula’s favour on all four counts of his arbitrary detention in 2016 at Congohas Airport; partiality of his trial process; improper leak of private messages from Lula’s family members; and the rejection of his presidential candidacy in Brazil’s 2018 elections.
The Nigeria Labour Congress rejoices with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and felicitates with the global working-class solidarity on yet another acquittal and vindication of Lula’s innocence by not just a court in Brazil but the highest human rights adjudicatory body in the world – the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC). We expect that the recommendations of the UNHRC in May 2023 will deliver a final damning blow to the wind castles constructed by President Lula’s political enemies whose lies and subterfuge have been fully exhumed.
We urge our compatriots – the workers of Brazil not to despair at the terrible ordeals of President Lula in the hands of organized Capital and their neo-liberal agents. Brazilian workers should rather be inspired by the latest wave of vindication for President Lula and ensure that it buoys the fully blown sail of Comrade Lula’s aspiration to become the next President of Brazil when the calamitous reign of Mr. Bolsonaro comes to an end. Our compatriots in Brazil should also be on the watch to ensure that no conspiracy of the ruling establishment derails a political victory already venerated by the vindication of President Lula.
