Brazil’s lower house passes a bill that could cut Jair Bolsonaro’s 27-year sentence to just over two years for coup plot convictions.
BRASÍLIA: Brazil’s lower house of Congress approved a bill early Wednesday that could drastically reduce former president Jair Bolsonaro’s prison sentence.
The far-right leader is serving a 27-year term for plotting to stop President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 elections.
The approved legislation would significantly reduce sentences for several crimes, including attempting a coup d’etat.
This opens the prospect that Bolsonaro, 70, could see his sentence cut to just over two years.
The bill still awaits Senate ratification before becoming law.
The vote followed a heated debate and chaotic scenes in the Chamber of Deputies.
Police forcibly removed government-allied leftist deputy Glauber Braga after he denounced a “coup offensive” and occupied the Speaker’s chair.
The broadcast was interrupted, journalists were removed from the plenary hall, and the debate was suspended.
Braga said he was exercising his right “not to accept as a done deal an amnesty for a group of coup plotters.”
If the bill passes, “Bolsonaro will see his sentence reduced… to something like two years and four months in prison,” said congressman Paulinho da Forca.
It would also grant parole to about 100 Bolsonaro supporters imprisoned for the January 2023 assault on government buildings in Brasilia.
However, it will be up to the judiciary to reformulate sentencing under the new conditions.
Bolsonaro’s defense team has also asked the Supreme Court to authorize his release for a surgical procedure due to his deteriorating health.
His lawyers again sought for the court to allow the ex-president to serve his sentence at home for “humanitarian” reasons.
Lindbergh Farias, leader of the ruling Worker’s Party, called the initiative “unacceptable.”
He said it was clearly aimed at “creating a specific law to benefit Bolsonaro.”
Conservative house president Hugo Motta faced criticism for ordering journalists out of the plenary hall.
The FENAJ national press association and a journalist’s union slammed the “episode of censorship and aggression against the press.”
The bill resurfaced days after Bolsonaro anointed his son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, as his successor ahead of 2026 elections.
Flavio said on Sunday he would withdraw his 2026 presidential candidacy in exchange for an amnesty for his father.
Bolsonaro’s lawyers have cited his frail health, including a history of abdominal issues from a 2018 stabbing, in appeals for his release.
Recently submitted medical documents “reveal a significant worsening of Bolsonaro’s health” requiring “immediate hospitalization,” his defense said.
