<p class=”m-pub-dates”>Date created : <time datetime=”2018-12-19T18:58:33+01:00″>19/12/2018 – 18:58</time></p>
A Brazilian supreme court judge on Wednesday issued an order that could see former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva soon released from prison, where he is serving a 12-year term for graft.

Justice Marco Aurelio Mello ruled that all prisoners in Lula’s situation — those whose convictions have been confirmed by a second court — should be freed while final appeals were under way if their lawyers request it.

The decision was unexpected and sent a jolt through Brazil’s political and legal circles just ahead of far-right president-elect Jair Bolsonaro’s inauguration on January 1.