Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva greets supporters during a visit to the metallurgic syndicate headquarters in Sao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil, Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2018. An appellate court in Brazil is considering whether to uphold or throw out a corruption conviction against da Silva, a decision that could impact whether the former leader can run for president. The 72-year-old leads preference polls for October’s race.
Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva greets supporters during a visit to the metallurgic syndicate headquarters in Sao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil, Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2018. An appellate court in Brazil is considering whether to uphold or throw out a corruption conviction against da Silva, a decision that could impact whether the former leader can run for president. The 72-year-old leads preference polls for October’s race. Marcelo Chello AP Photo
Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva greets supporters during a visit to the metallurgic syndicate headquarters in Sao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil, Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2018. An appellate court in Brazil is considering whether to uphold or throw out a corruption conviction against da Silva, a decision that could impact whether the former leader can run for president. The 72-year-old leads preference polls for October’s race. Marcelo Chello AP Photo

National Business

The Latest: Court upholds conviction of Brazil's da Silva

The Associated Press

January 24, 2018 01:46 PM

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil

The latest on the appeal of a graft conviction against former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (all times local):

4:35 p.m.

Two of the three judges on an appellate court have decided to uphold a corruption conviction against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The third judge on the panel is also set to vote Wednesday, but a simple majority is enough to uphold the July conviction by lower court Judge Sergio Moro.

Moro ruled that da Silva was slated to receive a beachfront apartment from construction company OAS in exchange for contracts.

The appellate court's Wednesday decision could bar da Silva, president between 2003 and 2010, from running in October's election. By law, a candidate is ineligible if he or she has a criminal conviction and it has been upheld by a second court.

However, final decisions on candidacies are made by Brazil's electoral court, and da Silva has several avenues to appeal to higher courts.

3:20 p.m.

Brazil is taking over Twitter, with much of this nation of more than 200 million fixated on the judges who are ruling whether to uphold or throw out a corruption conviction against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

As the appeals decision was broadcast live Wednesday, three of the top 10 topics trending worldwide on Twitter were about the case. The top trending topic was the hashtag "MoluscoNaCadeia," or "MolluskInJail." That's a play on the fact that da Silva is universally known as "Lula," which is a common nickname for Luiz but also means squid.

At No. 5 on the worldwide trending list was "CadeAProva," or "WhereIsTheProof," reflecting how the case has split this social media-mad country.

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2:10 p.m.

An appellate court judge is voting to increase the jail time for a graft conviction against former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Judge Joao Pedro Gebran Neto is the first of three appellate court judges to rule on a case that could impact the presidential elections and even stability in Latin America's largest nation.

After hearing arguments from both the prosecution and defense, Gebran Neto said da Silva's jail time should be 12 years and one month. That is an increase of more than two years over the sentence leveled in July.

If at least two of the three judges assigned to review the case uphold the conviction, da Silva could be barred from running in elections later this year.

Despite myriad legal troubles the 72-year-old leads polls for October's race.