Brazil's Supreme Court Upholds Ex-President Lula's Prison Sentence - Reports

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) - Laurita Vaz, the chief justice of Brazil's Superior Court of Justice, has dismissed a petition calling for the release of the country's former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is serving a 12-year jail term on corruption charges, local media reported.

Last week, Porto Alegre Court Judge Rogerio Favreto ordered Lula's immediate release, after which Federal Judge Joao Pedro Gebran Neto overruled Favreto's decision on the ex-president's liberation.

According to the Globo broadcaster, the Superior Court of Justice found on Tuesday that Favreto had not had the authority to take such a decision and upheld Lula's prison sentence.

Lula, who served as the country’s president from 2003 through 2010, was sentenced to 9.5 years in prison last summer for allegedly accepting a luxury apartment from a construction firm in return for political favors. Lula denied the accusations.

READ MORE: Brazil’s Lula Ruling Shows Politics Decided by Judicial System, Not People

An appeals court upheld the ruling in January and increased Lula's jail term to 12 years and a month. He went to prison three months later in the city of Curitiba after federal judge Sergio Moro issued an arrest warrant for Lula.