Roundup: Lula to stand trial for corruption in Brazil

Former Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva will stand trial for corruption, Brazilian courts announced Tuesday.

Judge Sergio Moro, who is in charge of the cases related to the Carwash Operation, on Tuesday accepted the case against Lula presented by the federal prosecution office last week. The prosecution office accused Lula of money laundering and corruption.

The Carwash Operation is investigating a large corruption scheme at state-controlled oil and gas giant Petrobras.

Lula is accused of taking bribes in the form of a luxury apartment in Guaruja, a coastal town in Sao Paulo state.

Seven other people, including Lula's wife, were indicted as well.

The bribes Lula allegedly took amounted to 3.7 million reals (about 1.1million U.S. dollars), local media reported. They were reportedly paid by construction company OAS in exchange of being favored for Petrobras contracts.

However, Lula's defense attorneys believe the former president is being persecuted for political reasons, saying that the accusation is based on "convictions" instead of evidence.

In the prosecution's presentation, Prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol said several times that they did not have definitive evidence of corruption against Lula.

The federal police released last month a report in which they stated that they found no evidence Lula owns the apartment. The former president said he considered buying the apartment, even visited a few times, but in the end decided not to buy it.

Legal experts warned that making accusations against Lula with a lack of evidence would contradict the country's legal principles.

In addition, some of the accused told the police that the corruption scheme precedes the Lula government. Some of Lula's lawyers also expressed doubts over the impartiality of Moro in the case. Endi