Brazil high court suspends order that could free Lula

[BRASÍLIA] The chief judge of Brazil's supreme court suspended Wednesday an order by another justice on the tribunal that could have freed former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from prison, where he is serving time for graft.

Chief Justice Jose Antonio Dias Toffoli said he had approved an objection by public prosecutors against the provisional order issued just hours earlier by the top court's Justice Marco Aurelio Mello.

Judge Mello had ruled that all prisoners in Lula's situation - non-violent ones whose convictions have been confirmed by a second court - should be freed on their lawyers' requests while final appeals were under way.

AFP