November 12, 2012RIO DE JANEIRO Brazils high court on Monday sentenced one of the most powerful figures in the governing Workers Party to nearly 11 years in prison for orchestrating a vast vote-buying scheme, sending shock waves through Brazils political establishment.Jamil Bittar/ReutersJose Dirceu, a top ally of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, was convicted of conspiracy and bribery.RelatedTimes Topic: BrazilConnect With Us on TwitterFollow@nytimesworld for international breaking news and headlines.Twitter List: Reporters and EditorsJustices in the Supreme Federal Tribunal, or Supreme Court, announced that Jose Dirceu de Oliveira e Silva, a top ally of and chief of staff to Brazils popular former president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, was sentenced to 10 years and 10 months in prison after being found guilty of charges that are roughly the equivalent of unlawful conspiracy and bribery.The length of the sentence for such an influential political operative, who is commonly called Jose Dirceu in Brazil, and the mere possibility that he could spend some time in prison before being paroled, stood as precedent-setting shifts in a political culture in which impunity in corruption cases has traditionally prevailed, legal scholars said.This is a watershed moment, said Thiago Bottino, a law professor at Fundacao Getulio Vargas, a top Brazilian university. The court is sending a message that this concrete case is very serious.The sentencing of Jose Dirceu, 66, who spent part of Brazils long military dictatorship exiled in Cuba, came amid a flurry of other sentences the court handed down in the trial.Jose Genoino Guimaraes Neto, the former president of the Workers Party at the time the scandal emerged in 2005, received a sentence on Monday of almost seven years. In October, Marcos Valerio de Souza, a businessman who was found to have operated much of the embezzlement scheme, got a 40-year sentence and was ordered to pay a fine of about $1.3 million.It remained to be seen how much time those convicted would actually spend in prison, and when their terms would begin, raising concerns that defendants would find ways to wiggle out of time behind bars. Brazils judicial system allows for certain procedural appeals, even at this seemingly defining stage in a high court trial.In addition, some Brazilian legal scholars, including former justices on the court, say the defendants cannot go to prison until the high court formally publishes its decision in the case, which it is expected to do in early 2013. But Prosecutor General Roberto Gurgel publicly argued this month that defendants should start serving sentences almost immediately after they are announced.In the case of Jose Dirceu, the sentence for his role in the sprawling scheme called the mensalao, or big monthly allowance, in a nod to the regular payments some lawmakers received almost ensures that he will spend time behind bars.Legal experts calculated on Monday that he might have to serve almost two years in prison before becoming eligible for a so-called semi-open arrangement in which he could leave prison each day to work, and return to sleep. It is very rare in Brazil for senior political figures to spend