As Lula’s lawyer, I helped him overcome persecution from the state he now leads

The backstory of Brazil’s president elect is inspiring

- GEOFFREY ROBERTSON

The historic news of Lula's victory over 66 Bolsonaro has been widely hailed. But what the reports of his political resurrection cannot tell is of the extraordinary courage with which he has faced - and overcome - the malevolence of his legal enemies and the cruelty of the injustices they perpetrated. I witnessed this over six years as his international lawyer, fighting - successfully - for his exoneration in the UN human rights committee.

Lula's backstory is inspiring enough. At eight years of age, he was selling peanuts on the street to provide for his impoverished family. At 14, he passed his only exam - to become a lathe worker. In time, he rose to leadership of his trade union fighting against the military regime for living wages and democratic rights.

As president of Brazil for two terms, even his enemies concede that he pulled 20 million of his people out of poverty with social programmes that were adopted by other countries and UN agencies. He did not, like so many other popular leaders (he had 80 per cent approval ratings) at the end of his term, attempt to change the constitution to give himself a third term in office.

I know him as a kind and principled man, determined to fight to improve the lives of the people, only to become the target of a hostile, politically motivated magistrate investigating corruption.