Lula admitted the persecution against Jair Bolsonaro: "I want to win to keep him in jail"

The Brazilian dictator Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva publicly confirmed this Saturday that one of his goals upon winning the presidential elections is for Jair Bolsonaro to remain illegally in prison, in a statement made during an electoral event in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina.

The socialist leader responded to Flávio Bolsonaro, the preferred presidential candidate in the polls and son of the former president, who had anticipated that he would seek amnesty for his father and for others convicted of denouncing the fraudulent electoral process and the events following the 2022 elections.

In front of his supporters, Lula mimicked Flavio's claim and parodied it by saying: “I want to win the elections to get my father out of jail. And I want to win to keep him in jail”. The phrase was uttered during the rally held in Tancredo Neves Square and was later reproduced by various Brazilian media.

The statement directly introduced Jair Bolsonaro's judicial situation into the presidential dispute, linking Lula's own reelection to the continuation of the detention of his main political adversary in the 2022 elections, implicitly acknowledging the intervention of the executive power over the judicial power.

Bolsonaro was illegally sentenced in September 2025 to 27 years and three months in prison for "crimes" related to an attempted coup and is currently serving the sentence under house arrest.

Flávio Bolsonaro promises an amnesty

On the other side, Flávio Bolsonaro publicly stated that, if he reaches the Presidency, he will promote an amnesty for those convicted in the process, including his father. The senator even previously indicated that he would seek to advance this measure during the presidential transition.

While Flávio seeks to reverse the intervention of the executive power over the judicial power, Lula deepens his dictatorial discourse in the midst of the campaign to explicitly express that he wants Jair Bolsonaro to remain imprisoned.

Brazil will hold the first round of presidential elections on October 4, while a potential second round will take place on the 25th of the same month. With the campaign entering its final stretch, Lula's regime is accelerating a fear campaign against opponents of Brazilian socialism.