Brazil court rejects 3rd-party appeal to keep Lula free -lawyers

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's top appeals court rejected a third-party request that former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva should stay out of prison until he has exhausted all appeals to his corruption conviction, Lula's legal team said on Friday, but they added that their own request is still pending before that court. Lula has been ordered to turn himself in to police by 5 p.m. (2000 GMT) on Friday to begin serving a 12-year sentence for accepting bribes from an engineering firm in return for help landing contracts with state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA . (Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Writing by Brad Brooks; Editing by David Gregorio)