巴西前總統被勒令收監

A Brazilian judge has ordered former President Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva to surrender to authorities in the southern city of Curitiba by Friday afternoon to begin serving a 12-year prison sentence on a corruption conviction.

The arrest warrant was issued just hours after Brazil's top court, the Supreme Federal Tribunal, voted 6-5 to deny a request by da Silva to stay out of prison while he appealed the conviction.

In a statement, Federal judge Sergio Moro said he was giving da Silva the opportunity to come in of his own accord because he had been president of the nation.

Da Silva was found guilty last year of taking bribes in the form of major renovations on an oceanfront apartment, in return for steering contracts to a construction company. An appeals court upheld the verdict in January.

Da Silva says the corruption charges against him are politically motivated and designed to keep him running for president again in October's election. Despite his conviction and six other pending corruption trials, he is leading in opinion polls. His Workers' Party (PT) described the ruling as "a tragic day for democracy and Brazil".巴西一名法官命令前總統路易斯·伊納西奧·盧拉·達席爾瓦(Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva)星期五下午之前向南部城市庫裏奇巴的當局自首，開始因腐敗罪而被判處12年監禁的服刑。

數小時前，巴西最高聯邦法院以6比5的票數裁決，駁回了盧拉提出的上訴期間暫不入獄的要求。

聯邦法官莫羅在一份聲明中說，他給盧拉主動入獄的機會，因爲他曾經擔任過國家總統。

前總統盧拉去年被判犯有受賄罪，把一系列政府合同包給一家建築公司，換取的好處是爲他一個海邊公寓全面翻修。一家上訴法庭今年一月維持原判。

盧拉說，對他的腐敗指控是出於政治動機，目的是阻止他今年10月再次參選。盧拉雖然已被判定受賄罪並面臨6項其它罪名的庭審，但是仍然在民調中領先。盧拉所在的勞工黨宣稱，對盧拉的判決是“民主和巴西的悲慘日”。