Former Brazil president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sentenced on Wednesday to nine and a half years in prison for corruption and money laundering.

The term was handed down against Lula, an iconic leftist politician who ruled 2003-2010, over a giant embezzlement and kickbacks scheme centered on state-owned oil group Petrobras, at the heart of a sprawling corruption probe known as "Car Wash."

The judge hearing the case said Lula was free pending a possible appeal against the sentence.