"Lula is Brazil's first political prisoner since the 1988 constitution was passed," says PT president, Gleisi Hoffmann.
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Hoffman and hundreds of others say they won't leave the area outside of the Curitiba prison until the presidential candidate, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is released from inside.
TeleSUR's correspondent standing by in front of the detention center reports that Brazilian tribunal judges will decide whether or not Lula will remain imprisoned this Wednesday.
Lula’s lawyers were denied a writ of habeas corpus by the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ) that sought to revoke Lula’s arrest warrant issued by judge Sergio Moro on Thursday to immediately serve a 12-year sentence for supposedly taking Odebrecht kickbacks.
His defense team argues that the candidate, well ahead in the polls, still has legal avenues available to him to contest his corruption conviction by Brazil's Fourth Regional Federal Court (TRF-4). Constitutionally, he cannot be detained until all such measures have been taken.
Speaking to the Curitiba crowds Hoffman said, "Lula said he was going to fulfil his prison mandate and he made this decision and he’s a great leader. He asks that you be his voice, that we be a million Lulas," Hoffman told his supporters gathered outside the detention center and that the national leader "remains at peace."
The PT president added, "it’s unjustifiable what happened here last night. We talked to the police commander and we’ve requested an investigation," referring to police repression against protesters outside the jail where Lula turned himself in and he was taken into custody.
Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the French political party, La France Insoumise, tweeted the other day that Lula’s imprisonment is political. "Lula has never become corrupt. That's a lie. It's a judicial coup. He was 15 points ahead in the (presidential) polls."
The defense team has also presented a precautionary appeal to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee seeking to have them stop his detention until the judicial process is exhausted.
TeleSUR’s Andre Vieira says that human rights organizations are saying that Lula’s very imprisonment shows the extent of Brazil’s "fragile institutions." He Tweets that "functionaries and politicians are expected to visit (Lula) to verify how he’s doing."
National social movements are planning the following protests until May Day, May 1:
April 8: Defend Lula Libre in Rio de Janeiro.
April 11: National Day of Mobilization in Defence of Lula Libre.
April 11: Demonstration at all Brazilian embassies abroad.
April 10 and 11: Act with jurists in Brasilia.
April 17: National Day of Mobilization against Red Globo.
April 26: Act in defence of Petrobras in Rio de Janeiro.
May 1: Worker's day in defense of Rights and Freedom for Lula.