The Brazilian Senate approved on Sunday night, with 48 votes in favor, 25 against and one abstention, the bill aimed at reducing the prison sentences of former ultra-democratic President Jair Bolsonaro and the rest of those convicted of coup plotting. The controversial project was approved last week in the Chamber of Deputies, which is why the final sanction of the president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is now missing. The Brazilian leader, directly opposed to the measure, said he would veto it, but that would serve no purpose other than symbolism because representatives can restore the text immediately. It is likely, in any case, that from there, the law will be brought before the Supreme Court to challenge its constitutionality.
The law comes less than a month after Bolsonaro began serving a 27-year, three-month prison sentence for five different crimes. The judges considered him the leader of the strategy who attempted an institutional rupture to maintain power after the electoral defeat of 2022. A few days after the conviction during the pasillos of the National Congress, he spoke of amnesty. They are protesting in the streets and it is difficult to approve a law that applies great vagueness and it is a new challenge for the right to recalculate the route and defend the so-called “dosimetry” as a possible solution.
His main argument is that the sanctions are excessive, disproportionate in particular for those found guilty of the invasion of the headquarters of the three powers on January 8, 2023 in Brasilia. The approved text reduces sanctions for crimes committed “in a crowded environment” and prevents adding sanctions for crimes committed in the same context, taking into account only the most serious ones. However, the criminal justice system will not only benefit the violent protesters whom the far right considers the “martyrs” of the 8th century, but also the leaders of the conspiracy. With the new calculation methods, Bolsonaro’s sentence could last from 27 to 21 years and the period in closed regime would decrease from the six currently planned to a few, although this depends on interpretations.
Bolsonaro’s situation will in any case largely depend on his state of health. His lawyers, who argued from the start that he was under house arrest, have asked twice in recent days that he be allowed to leave to have “emergency” surgery on two hernias in English. Make sure your condition is “serious, complex and progressively weakening.” At the same time, several medical experts from the Federal Police examined Bolsonaro, and with his conclusions in hand with the judge of the Supreme Court, Alexandre de Moraes will decide whether or not to authorize the operation.
While members of Congress vote to reduce their sentences, across the Plaza de los Tres Poderes, the Supreme Court continues to try those involved in the attempted coup. This week, five soldiers, police and politicians were found guilty of the second escalation. General Mario Fernandes, executive secretary of the Bolsonaro government, was sentenced to 26 years and six months in prison. He confessed that he had coordinated the plan to assassinate then-elected President Lula; at your number, Geraldo Alckmin and Judge De Moraes. Another of the convicts is the former police director of Carreteras, Silvinei Vasques (24 years and six months), who, when Brazil wanted to elect Lula and Bolsonaro in the elections, organized blockades in various ways to prevent left-wing voters from voting. For them, the penal reduction recently approved by Congress will also help.
About The Author
