Bernie Sanders 'delighted' over Lula da Silva's release from prison

The longest-serving independent in the United State’s congressional history and a member of the Democrats Bernie Sanders, on Friday (early Saturday morning in India), tweeted in support of former President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva's release from prison. The former Brazil President had been imprisoned after his conviction on corruption and money laundering charges. He linked to a story on da Silva’s release on Twitter to express his “delight” and said his imprisonment “never should have happened in the first place.”

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Bernie Sander's tweet

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Da Silva released from prison 

After a Brazilian judge ordered his release after the Supreme Court ruled that a person can be imprisoned only after all appeals to higher courts have been exhausted, da Silva had walked out of the jail at around 5:45 pm on Friday (Brasilia Standard Time) where he had been detained since April 2018. He embraced his girlfriend Friday after coming out of the federal police building in Curitiba, Brazil.  He was welcomed by hundreds of supporters who gathered outside the building and applauded him.

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The case against Lula 

Lula, as he is universally known among Brazilians, was jailed in April 2018 after a group of judges upheld his conviction for corruption and money laundering. The former Brazilian President's first conviction was issued by Sergio Moro, then a judge on a lower court and later named justice minister by President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro. Da Silva, who governed from 2003 to 2010, is still appealing a case related to the alleged purchase of a beachfront apartment in the city of Guarujá, in the state of Sao Paulo, in Brazil’s two high courts. Da Silva was also sentenced by a lower court judge in a case regarding alleged ownership of a farmhouse in the city of Atibaia, outside Sao Paulo. The 74-year-old politician has denied any wrongdoing in those cases. The former president accused Moro and Car Wash prosecutors of political persecution.

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(Inputs from AP)