Washington, September 2 (RHC)-- U.S. Democrat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders made statements in favor of Brazil’s former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva release during a political rally held in Florence, South Carolina, over the weekend.

During a question and answer session, a young man asked the senator about his opinion regarding the emergence of far-right governments around the world.  One of them is currently headed by former army captain Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, a country where a corrupt judicial investigation has kept the Workers' Party (PT) leader as a political prisoner since April 2018.

“Somebody has written to Brazilian authorities to get Lula out of jail; it is an issue that I feel very strongly about," Sanders said.  "The U.S. needs to conduct a foreign policy based on democracy and human rights, the very opposite of what Trump is doing now, as he supports authoritarian governments in Brazil."

To put the Workers' Party leader in prison, former judge Sergio Moro, who is currently Bolsonaro’s Justice Minister, acted in collusion with Deltan Dallagnol, the chief prosecutor of the “Car Wash” investigation.  When that information was known, Senator Sanders also requested that Lula da Silva be released due to the abuses committed in the judicial process for which he was unduly convicted.

“It is clearer than ever that Lula da Silva was imprisoned in a politicized prosecution that denied him a fair trial and due process. During his presidency, Lula oversaw huge reductions in poverty and remains Brazil’s most popular politician. I stand with political and social leaders across the globe who are calling on Brazil’s judiciary to release Lula and annul his conviction,” Sanders said in a statement provided to The Intercept.