Former Brazilian President surrenders to serve prison sentence

Brazil's former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva surrendered to police to serve his 12-year prison sentence after a two-day standoff.  The Brazilian Supreme Court handed down the order for his imprisonment on Friday (April 6). The ex-President will serve his prison sentence in a cell specially prepared for him to avoid moral and physical engagement with other prisoners. However, the Brazilian newspaper "Estadao" reported that, he will be treated as a regular prisoner in terms of food, coffe and family visits. During an anti-corruption investigation known as Operation Car Wash, the former leader was found guilty of obtaining a renovated beachfront apartment worth of ($1.1m), as a bribe from an engineering firm. Refusing the charges against him, the former President said the charges are politically motivated and fabricated to prevent him from running for the election in October. During his term of office from 2003 to 2011 as the 35th President of Brazil, the country experienced its longest period of economic growth in three decades, allowing his administration to spend lavishly on social programmes. Millions of Brazilians managed to overcome poverty during the two consecutive terms that Lula was in power.