Brazil’s Congress votes on a bill to reduce Jair Bolsonaro’s 27-year coup plot sentence to just over two years, also affecting jailed supporters.
BRASÍLIA: Brazil’s lower house of Congress will vote Tuesday on legislation that could drastically reduce former president Jair Bolsonaro’s prison sentence.
The far-right leader is currently serving a 27-year sentence for plotting to stop President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 elections.
The proposed bill would cut his sentence to just over two years.
Congressman Sostenes Cavalcante said the move followed the failure to secure votes for a full amnesty.
“Since we were unable to build the political climate and secure the necessary votes to pass the amnesty, the first step to achieving our goal will be the reduction of sentences,” he told a press conference.
The legislation aims to significantly reduce prison terms for several crimes, including attempting a coup d’etat.
It would also grant parole to about one hundred Bolsonaro supporters imprisoned for the January 8, 2023 assault on government buildings in Brasilia.
If passed by the lower house, the bill must also be approved by the Senate.
Negotiator Paulinho da Forca stated the reformulation would reduce Bolsonaro’s sentence “from twenty-seven years and three months to something like two years and four months in prison.”
Lindbergh Farias, leader of the ruling Worker’s Party in Congress, called the initiative “unacceptable.”
He said it was clearly aimed at “creating a specific law to benefit Bolsonaro.”
The bill resurfaced days after Bolsonaro anointed his son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, as his political successor for the 2026 presidential elections.
Flavio Bolsonaro said Sunday he would withdraw his 2026 candidacy in exchange for an amnesty for his father.
If the law passes, Brazil’s judiciary would reformulate sentences under the new conditions set by Congress. – AFP
