SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is set to appoint the lawyer who defended him from graft accusations, Cristiano Zanin, to a vacant Supreme Court seat, Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco said on Thursday.
Zanin would be tapped by the leftist leader to replace Justice Ricardo Lewandowski, who retired in April.
He would be Lula’s first nominee for the country’s top court since the president took office in January office for a third non-consecutive term in January.
Zanin failed to save Lula from a prison sentence but continued to argued against the conviction that was later annulled by the Supreme Court on a technicality.
(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Steven Grattan)
