Brazilian presidential candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has released his new book, ‘The Truth Will Win,’ simultaneously warning authorities that arresting him now would make him a political prisoner.
“If they dare to have me arrested, they will be committing legal barbarism and I will become a political prisoner,” said Lula, president from 2003 to 2010.
The former president has spent the past year campaigning while jumping from one appeals court to the next, fighting a 12-year prison sentence for corruption and money laundering.
As his new book hit the shelves, Lula once again declared his innocence: if police want to arrest him, he won’t seek asylum or go into hiding, he said:
“I will be at my house, arriving between eight and nine in the evening, going to sleep at ten, waking up at five in the morning to do exercises.”
The 216-page book details an extended interview with journalists and intellectuals, during which he gives his perspective on events leading up to his conviction. Lula agreed to the content, despite the inclusion of controversial statements relating to his successor, Dilma Rousseff.
“I want you to know that what is here is exactly my truth and that that truth places my accusers against the wall: they believed that I was going to put my tail between my legs and stay still, but I am not going to disappear; I will return to be president of Brazil,” Lula said of the book.
Senator Gleisi Hoffman, president of the Workers’ Party, said: “It is a strong testimony about the current situation in Brazil and makes it clear that if we continue to insist on his candidacy for the presidency despite being convicted, it is for one reason only: because Lula is innocent.”
To date, Lula has topped every presidential election poll, including those conducted by DataFolha, Vox Populi, Data Poder 360, Instituto Paraná, the National Confederation of Transportation/MDA and Ipsos.
teleSUR