Lula, a former president of Brazil, could run again in 2022

BRAZILIAN JUSTICE works in mysterious ways. The latest twist came on March 8th when Edson Fachin, a Supreme Court judge, annulled two corruption convictions against ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, clearing the way for him to run in the elections in 2022. Mr Fachin belongs to a faction of the Supreme Court that tends to rule in favour of the anti-corruption task force known as Lava Jato (Car Wash). This makes his ruling surprising.

Mr Fachin accepted a years-old argument from Lula’s lawyers that the cases, which concern properties he allegedly received from construction companies, were filed in the wrong jurisdiction; if the full court confirms this decision, they will start again elsewhere. But another motion before the court seeks permanently to quash both the convictions and the evidence against Lula, on the grounds that Sérgio Moro, the judge who oversaw the probe, was biased. Leaked messages reveal that he coached prosecutors; he later became justice minister for Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s populist president.