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RIO DE JANEIRO, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Teori Zavascki determined that a case against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva should be dealt with by the federal court in the capital city of Brasilia.
Lula is accused of obstructing justice by allegedly trying to bribe Nestor Cervero, former director of Petrobras' International Department, to keep his silence in a corruption scandal involving the company.
Cervero turned over evidence in exchange for some lenience in his sentence. He is currently under house arrest.
However, Judge Zavascki decided that this specific accusation is not directly linked to the cases of the Carwash Operation, which involve the corruption scandal itself. Judge Sergio Moro is responsible for the Carwash Operation cases.
According to Zavascki, as most of the acts Lula is accused of supposedly occurred in Brasilia, the local court in the capital city, instead of Moro, who is based in Curitiba in the southern region, should take over the case.
Lula's defense attorneys so far have not commented on the decision.
