Former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) said this Friday (17) that, in 1998, he sought out the then president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, to ask him to release the kidnappers of businessman Abilio Diniz. At the time, they had been in prison for 10 years and had started a hunger strike.
During an event in Maceió, the PT said he also spoke with the then Minister of Justice, Renan Calheiros.
“These young people, there were Argentines, there were people from Latin America, they were imprisoned for 10 years. There was a moment when I went to talk to Fernando Henrique Cardoso because they were on hunger strike and were going to go on a dry strike, which means not eating and drinking. Death would be certain. Then, I went to look for the Minister of Justice, called Renan Calheiros.”
Diniz was kidnapped in December 1989. He spent six days in captivity in São Paulo, in the basement of a house in the Jabaquara neighborhood.
Lula said that, during his conversation with FHC, he said that, by releasing the prisoners, the then president could go down in history “as a democrat”, preventing “10 young people who made a mistake” from dying in jail.
The PT said that FHC agreed to release the prisoners if they interrupted the hunger strike.
“And I went to jail on December 31st to talk to the boys and say: ‘Look, you’re going to have to give the floor to me, you’re going to have to guarantee me, that you’re going to end the hunger strike now, and you will be released. They respected the proposal, stopped the hunger strike and were released. And I don’t know where they are now.”
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*Posted by Renan Porto
Source: CNN Brasil
