Brazil’s Lula refuses to swap jail for house arrest

Bloomberg

Brazil’s former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has rejected prosecutors’ request that he leave prison for house arrest, setting up a potential clash with judges over his sentence for corruption and money-laundering.
“I won’t swap my dignity for my freedom,” Lula said in a hand-written letter posted on his Twitter account.
He added that prosecutors should apologise to the Brazilian people and his family “for the evil they’ve done to democracy, to Justice, and to the country.”
Prosecutors of the so-called Carwash probe had requested Lula’s release, in accordance with a Brazilian law that allows prisoners with good conduct and who have already served one-sixth of their jail time to complete their sentence under a less restrictive system.
Lula’s decision sets up a stand-off with the Brazilian courts and it will fall to federal judge Carolina Lebbos to decide whether he will stay in prison or not.
Lula still faces prosecution in a further seven cases.