RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned a judge's decision to transfer former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from the headquarter of the Federal Police in Curitiba to a common prison in Sao Paulo state.
Lula has been serving his sentence in Curitiba for over a year. The ruling on his transfer was issued Wednesday morning, based on a request from the Federal Police in Curitiba, which alleged difficulties in maintaining Lula at the headquarters, as the site is not appropriate for keeping prisoners for long periods.
They also reported difficulties in keeping the peace between Lula's followers and critics, who gather in front of the building frequently.
The first ruling determined that Lula was to be transferred to a prison in Sao Paulo state, where he lived before his conviction of corruption charges.
A second court order determined that he was to be transferred to the Tremembe jail, which caused an uproar. Tremembe is a facility which holds some of Brazil's most infamous criminals, including serial rapists and child murderers as they would be at risk in regular jails.
The Workers' Party, which the ex-president founded, protested against the decision and Lula's defense team immediately filed a request to the Supreme Court to overturn the transfer order.
Out of the 11 Supreme Court judges, 10 voted to overturn the previous order, while the last one -- Judge Marco Aurelio Mello -- said the request should have been forwarded to the appeals court in charge of Lula's case, not to the Supreme Court.
According to the Supreme Court's ruling, Lula is to stay at his current lodgings at the Federal Police's Curitibe headquarters, until the court judges an appeal filed by the ex-president's defense team, accusing Judge Sergio Moro, who convicted Lula of acting in a biased manner and convicting the ex-president for political motives.
