Brazil’s lower house of Congress early yesterday approved a bill that could slash former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s prison sentence for plotting a coup, after efforts by a lawmaker to disrupt the proceedings sparked chaos in parliament.
Bolsonaro has been serving a 27-year term since last month after his conviction for a scheme to stop Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 election.
Lawmakers had been discussing a bill that would significantly reduce sentences for several crimes, including attempting a coup d’etat — opening up the prospect that Bolsonaro, 70, could have his sentence cut to just over two years.
Photo: EPA
After a heated debate that saw one lawmaker forcibly removed by police, the lower house of the Brazilian Congress approved the bill early yesterday morning. It awaits Brazilian Senate ratification before becoming law.
Bolsonaro’s supporters in the Congress have for months weighed options to ease his punishment, including a possible amnesty that fizzled out after countrywide protests.
After that failed, Brazilian Deputy Sostenes Cavalcante said that “the first step to achieving our goal will be the reduction of sentences.”
On Tuesday, efforts to vote on the bill led to turmoil in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies.
Police forcibly removed Brazilian Deputy Glauber Braga after denouncing a “coup offensive” and occupying the speaker’s chair, footage broadcast on local television showed.
The broadcast was interrupted, journalists were removed from the plenary hall and the debate was suspended. The session resumed after order was restored.
Braga said that he was exercising his right “not to accept as a done deal an amnesty for a group of coup plotters.”
If the bill passes into law, “Bolsonaro will see his sentence reduced ... to something like two years and four months in prison,” Brazilian Deputy Paulinho da Forca, who is leading negotiations on the bill, said in a video sent to reporters.
It would also grant parole to about 100 Bolsonaro supporters imprisoned for the Jan. 8, 2023, assault on government buildings in Brasilia, shortly after Lula took office.
However, it would be up to the judiciary to reformulate sentencing under the new conditions approved by Congress.
Bolsonaro’s defense team has also asked the Brazilian Supreme Court to authorize his release for a surgical procedure due to his deteriorating health, documents showed.
As they requested weeks ago, his lawyers again sought for the court to allow the former president to serve his sentence at home for “humanitarian” reasons.
Lindbergh Farias, leader of the ruling Worker Party in Congress, said that the initiative of the bill was “unacceptable,” as it was clearly aimed at “creating a specific law to benefit Bolsonaro.”
Meanwhile, Chamber of Deputies President Hugo Motta faced criticism for ordering journalists out.
In a statement, the FENAJ national press association and a journalist’s union criticized what they called an “episode of censorship and aggression against the press.”
The bill had been stalled for several months, but returned a few days after Bolsonaro said that his son, Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, would contest next year’s presidential election.
Flavio Bolsonaro on Sunday said that he would be willing to withdraw his presidential candidacy in exchange for amnesty for his father.
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