Photo: Brazil's Ex-President Serves First Day Of 12-Year Prison Sentence

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Leftist icon Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva spent Sunday as Brazil's first ex-president to be imprisoned for a common crime -- and his cell was in the headquarters of the giant anti-graft probe that brought him down.

The first day of Lula's 12-year sentence marked the downfall of once one of the world's most popular politicians.

Although Brazilian presidents of recent history have routinely ended up in trouble -- impeached, brought down by a coup and even one suicide -- Lula is the first to have been convicted of corruption and locked up.


His new home is a roughly 160 square foot (15 meter square) cell in the federal police headquarters in Curitiba, the southern city where the "Car Wash" probe is based.

Named after a service station where agents initially uncovered a relatively small money laundering operation, "Car Wash" has turned into one of the world's biggest ever examples of such a probe, netting scores of top politicians, some of Brazil's richest businessmen, and sending shock waves through Latin America.

Lula was found guilty last year of taking a luxury apartment as a bribe from a construction company and is "Car Wash's" biggest scalp -- though Lula says the conviction was rigged.