In Brazil, Political Rivals Face a Common Threat: A Rising Judiciary
The ruling against Mr. da Silva, one of Latin America’s most lionized
and influential politicians, is the biggest conviction in a battle between the political class and a corps of judges and prosecutors — many of them in their 20s, 30s and 40s — who have dashed the impunity that elected officials have enjoyed for years.
"This shows that it is not about a preference for a political party or the persecution of a political party." State prosecutors charged Mr. da Silva with money laundering
and corruption, accusing him of accepting costly upgrades to a beachfront apartment from a construction company.
After Mr. da Silva’s conviction, Mr. Temer’s lawyer, Antonio Cláudio Mariz de Oliveira, told reporters
that the two veteran politicians were being targeted by prosecutors who were accusing "innocent people" and "destroying reputations" with "hasty allegations." Prosecutors and judges reject the claims that they are acting as political kingmakers, not unbiased defenders of the law.
" Mr. da Silva said on Thursday, a day after his conviction on corruption and money laundering charges threatened his bid for a third presidency.
that If they think that with this sentence they will take me out of the game, let them know that I’m in the game,
Marina Silva, a former member of Mr. da Silva’s cabinet who broke ranks with his Workers’ Party in 2009, said the scandals
plaguing Brazil’s dominant political parties could be a catalyst for a sweeping transformation that the country needs.
But Mr. da Silva, who helped lift millions out of poverty as president from 2003 to 2010 and still commands the loyalty of many Brazilians, argues
that judges and prosecutors are pursuing him in court because they do not have the support to beat him at the ballot box.
An Ipsos poll released in January found that 96 percent of respondents supported allowing the sweeping investigations
that have caught up many political figures to continue "to the end, regardless of the outcome." Sergio Moro, 44, the judge who convicted Mr. da Silva, has become the most prominent figure in the crusade against corruption.
