Former Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was on Wednesday, sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison for corruption and money laundering.

Delivering the verdict, Judge Sergio Moro said the former president had sought to intimidate the court, an act which he argued could be grounds for ordering his immediate arrest, adding that it would however be prudent to allow Mr. da Silva remain free pending an appeal.

The ruling could be a crippling blow to Mr. da Silva’s aspirations of running for president in the nation’s next year’s presidential elections under the Workers’ Party as opinion polls had showed that he was a leading contender.

The case against da Silva  began with an investigation into money laundering at a gas station but as prosecutors dug deep in their investigations, they discovered billions of dollars worth of bribe involving Petrobas, the state-controlled oil giant and powerful contractors like Odebrecht, a large construction company with tentacles spread across the world.

The 71-year-old da Silva, who raised Brazil’s profile on the world stage as president between 2003-2010, called the charges against him a “farce” and that the ruling was a famous strategy that has been used to brutal effects by various dictatorships throughout history to subdue political opponents.

His lawyers and Senator Gleisi Hoffman, who recently took charge of the affairs of the Workers’ Party also argue that a presidential election without Lula is fraudulent and undemocratic.

“A presidential election without the participation of Lula is fraudulent and undemocratic. If you want to take him out of the running, then put up a candidate and run against him in the electoral booth,” Hoffman said.

The high profile conviction is however seen by some Brazilians as the latest salvo by the country’s judiciary which has declared war on an entrenched culture of corruption which has ripped through the nation’s political establishments, leaving only a few prominent politicians untainted by allegations of corruption.