Brazil court votes to reduce ex-president Lula's sentence

[RIO DE JANEIRO] A Brazilian appeals court on Tuesday voted to reduce former leftist president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's 12-year sentence for bribery and money laundering.

Three out of four judges on the Superior Court of Justice panel hearing Lula's appeal agreed to uphold his conviction, but reduce the sentence to eight years and 10 months.

The fourth judge is yet to make his decision.

The 73-year-old leftist icon, who has been sentenced to 25 years behind bars in two separate corruption cases, marked his first year in jail earlier this month.

Lula was sentenced to 12 years and one month on charges that he accepted a seaside apartment as a bribe for helping the OAS construction company during his 2003-2010 presidency to get lucrative deals with state oil firm Petrobras.

Lula is also appealing the second sentence of almost 13 years handed down in February for accepting renovation work by two construction companies on a farmhouse in exchange for ensuring they won contracts with Petrobras.

AFP