This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva left prison on Saturday to attend the funeral of his seven-year-old grandson, reiterating his innocence before political leaders and relatives who had gathered to mourn.

Lula, who is serving a 12-year sentence for corruption and money laundering, was released at 7am local time from a prison in the Paraná state capital, Curitiba. He flew to São Paulo before taking a helicopter to São Bernardo do Campo, where the funeral took place. He was scheduled to return to his cell later in the afternoon.

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A note on Lula’s website said he spoke at the funeral.

“Ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said at his grandson’s funeral that when they meet in heaven, he will bring proof of his innocence for all the bullying that Arthur suffered in school for having a grandfather in prison,” the note said, adding that Lula said he would prove that the prosecutor and judge who jailed him had lied.

“Lula was very sad, in a lot of pain, destroyed inside, like any human being who has to bury their child who dies in a tragic way,” João Pedro Stedile, coordinator of the leftwing Landless Workers’ Movement, told the Associated Press. “But politically, it’s impressive … he said to us, ‘Stay strong, I’m going to get out, I am innocent.’”

Lula’s grandson, Arthur Lula da Silva, died of meningitis on Friday. Arthur is the child of Sandro Luis Lula da Silva, one of the ex-president’s sons.

The funeral was the first time Lula has left prison since being jailed in April 2018. Leaders from the Workers’ party, including ex-president Dilma Rousseff, came to pay their respects, while around 200 supporters gathered outside the cemetery chanting: “Free Lula!”

Others said that the man popularly known as Lula should not have been allowed to attend.

“Lula is just an inmate and he should be at a common prison,” President Jair Bolsonaro’s son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, wrote on Twitter on Friday. “When the relatives of other inmates die will they also be escorted by the federal police for the funeral? It is absurd to even contemplate that. It only lets him pose as a poor thing.”

He later deleted the tweet.

In January, Lula was not allowed to go to his brother’s funeral despite Brazilian laws which grant inmates permission to leave for the funerals of close family members.

Lula’s arrest has divided the country: some believe justice is being served to a corrupt politician, others say he has been unfairly persecuted by Brazil’s elite and a partisan judiciary.

Lula was president between 2003 and 2010. He was poised to run again in October but was barred due to his criminal conviction. His Workers’ party says he is a political prisoner.