Brazils leftist ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday lashed out against his imprisonment for corruption but the government rejected his claim to have been victim of a "farce" and a judge stripped him of presidential privileges.
In a column in French newspaper Le Monde, Lula called his conviction and 12 year sentence for graft "a judicial farce" and said that presidential elections would be unfair without his participation.