“I know I committed no crime,” he told supporters at a rally in downtown Porto Alegre on Tuesday evening. Lula maintains he never owned the penthouse apartment, criticizing prosecutors for leaning on the plea bargain testimony of one witness. Lula left office in 2010 with an unprecedented 87 percent approval rating, boosted by social programs that lifted millions of Brazilians from poverty. Brazil’s benchmark Bovespa stock index has risen around 10 percent in the past month on the prospect of Lula being barred from the election. Arriving in Switzerland for the Davos business summit this week, Temer said Lula’s trial was “normal” and showed Brazil’s institutions were working properly.

Source: bd News24 January 24, 2018 06:00 UTC