Brazil’s former president, Lula, to stand trial on obstruction charges

Reporting from RIO DE JANEIRO —  A Brazilian judge has accepted charges against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that state he obstructed a corruption investigation involving state-run oil giant Petrobras. The move clears the way for one of the country’s best-known political figures to stand trial.

The decision, published Friday, names Silva and five others as co-conspirators in an attempt to buy the silence of a former Petrobras director implicated in the scandal. A date for the trial has not been set.

The obstruction-of-justice accusation against Silva comes from plea bargain testimony by former Sen. Delcidio do Amaral, who was stripped of his seat by his peers and also will stand trial.

On Thursday, Silva’s lawyers filed a petition at the United Nations Human Rights Committee claiming a lack of impartiality and abuse of power by another judge investigating the Petrobras scandal.

Silva, who is universally known in Brazil as Lula, denied any wrongdoing. “It is up to the prosecutors and federal police to prove what they say,” he said.

His supporters say the latest decision by federal judge Ricardo Leite is retaliation for lodging the petition with the U.N. committee.

It is the first time that the former president will stand trial for charges related to the Petrobras scandal. He also is accused by Sao Paulo state prosecutors of money laundering and criminal misrepresentation in connection with a real estate scheme that benefited him and his family.

Silva governed from 2003 to 2010. Despite a votes-for-bribes scandal that took down his chief of staff, he left office with record-high popularity levels, and his hand-picked successor, Dilma Rousseff, handily won the presidency.

But his popularity since has been battered by corruption allegations and an economic downturn that undermined his successor.

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