Ex-Brazil Leader Lula to Run for President, From Jail If Needed - Lawmaker

RIO DE JANEIRO (Sputnik) – Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, senteced to 12 years in prison, will be a candidate of the Workers' Party (PT) at the upcoming presidential elections in October, party’s lawmaker Paulo Teixeira told Sputnik.

"We will register him for the campaign, he will be our prisoner candidate, he will carry out his campaign from prison and we will run it for him," Teixeira said, adding that Lula should be considered a "political prisoner" because he was a victim of injustice.

On Wednesday, the Brazilian Supreme Court voted to put Lula, 72, in jail pending his appeal to overturn a graft conviction.

READ MORE: WATCH Thousands Take to Streets as Brazil Court Votes to Jail Lula da Silva

Last summer, da Silva was sentenced to 9.5 years in jail on bribery charges. An appeals court upheld the ruling in January and increased the sentence to 12 years and one month. On Wednesday, six of the eleven justices present ruled that da Silva should start the 12-year jail term he was given in January. A warrant for Lula's arrest may be issued any moment.

Lula da Silva served as the president of Brazil two consecutive terms from 2003 until the end of 2010 with record popularity ratings. During his tenure, the country experienced the highest pace of economic growth in three decades. That is why da Silva's administration lavishly allocated money on social programmes, lifting millions of people out of poverty.