Brazil Workers Party Vows to Nominate Scandal-Hit Lula for President

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) - The Brazilian Workers’ Party (PT) said Wednesday it would nominate the country's former leader, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, for president next year after a court confirmed his graft conviction.

"We will confirm Lula's candidacy at the party convention and register it on August 15, strictly in line with electoral legislation," the party said in a statement.

This comes after Lula lost the appeal in a court in the city of Porto Alegre. The judges unanimously upheld his 2017 conviction and increased his jail term from 9.5 years to 12 years and a month.

Speaking in Sao Paulo, the 72-year-old denied receiving a luxury three-story seafront apartment from a construction company in exchange for bribes, saying he did not commit any crime.

Former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff commented earlier on Lula's conviction, saying that he was not guilty, expressing hopes to "save him in a democratic way in 2018."