The country's top court decides Thursday whether he can remain free on appeal.
- October, 1945: Lula is born to a poor farming family in the Brazil's northeast. His family moves when he is seven to the state of Sao Paulo to escape hunger.
- 1975: He becomes president of the metal workers' union, a sector in which he has worked since the age of 14.
- 1978-80: At the height of the military dictatorship, Lula leads major strikes in the industrial suburbs and is jailed for a month for his role.
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- 1980: Lula co-founds the leftist Workers' Party (PT) and goes on to take part in the creation, in 1983, of the Unified Workers' Central (CUT), which becomes Brazil's largest trade union federation.
- 1986: He is elected to congress.
- October 2002: Wins election to become Brazil's first leftist president. He is re-elected in 2006 for a term ending in 2010.
- 2005: Lula ousts the Workers' Party leadership after corruption scandals.
- March 2016: The Supreme Court blocks his appointment as chief of staff to president Dilma Rousseff, his handpicked successor. She is impeached in August after allegations of financial wrongdoing.
- July 2017: Lula is found guilty of receiving a bribe from a Brazilian construction company in return for contracts with state oil giant Petrobras. He is sentenced to 9.5 years behind bars.
- January 2018: He loses an appeal and his sentence is increased to 12 years and one month.