A Brazilian court confirmed the charges and increased the sentence for former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva up to 17 years, nation.com reported. He was released from prison earlier this month by the country’s Supreme Court.

“I know I will live a life of much struggle going forward. But who knows who is innocent is not afraid to fight,” Lula tweeted Wednesday, following the court proceedings from Sao Paulo. “I will win every lawsuit against me by exposing their lies. My innocence is proven in the case file. They have no proof, what they have is a thesis: that Lula cannot be released.”

Earlier, the federal court of Curitiba decided to release from custody Lulu da Silva, who had been serving a sentence of eight years and ten months in prison for corruption and money laundering since April 2018, changing the rules of the criminal procedure code providing for arrest after losing the case in the second instance .

According to media reports, the court’s decision to increase the sentence will be equated to a second-instance sentence, which allows the ex-president to remain at large until all legal methods of protection against criminal prosecution are exhausted.

Thus, Lula da Silva has already received a second sentence in a second court on corruption charges. Previously, he was found guilty in another case, having sentenced to a year and seven months in prison.

Government officials in several Latin American countries received millions of bribes from Odebrecht, one of Brazil’s largest energy contractor Petrobras. According to US court information, Odebrecht paid foreign politicians and government officials a total of $ 439 million from 2001 to 2016.