The rapporteur of the bill that reduces the sentences of those convicted in the coup process, Esperidião Amin (PP-SC), said this Wednesday (10) that he was in favor of amnesty and that the pardon or not of the convicts would be a political decision. He is responsible for the project within the CCJ (Committee on the Constitution and Justice) of the Senate.
He also said he would work to get the bill to a vote later this year. Esperidião said that the report should be delivered to the CCJ by next Wednesday (17).
“I defend amnesty. Now I am not just a voter, I am the rapporteur,” said Esperidião, referring to the need for the rapporteur to start from a project already approved by the Chamber and to consider the suggestions of other senators on the project.
Amin did not rule out the possibility that the sanctions reduction proposal, according to his Senate report and analysis, would become an amnesty. “What is the obstacle? The obstacle will be due to a political decision,” he said.
“There is unanimous recognition, if not unanimous, at least by a very strong majority, that the sanctions are exorbitant,” the senator said. He notes, however, that it is difficult to please everyone involved in a discussion like this: “If even Helen, with all her beauty, were not able to reconcile the Greeks and the Trojans…”
The senator says an amnesty is constitutional and cited a vote during the drafting of the Constitution in which the veto on this type of pardon was removed. He also mentions the support of left-wing politicians at the time for this reversal. “The intention to ban amnesty was rejected in the Constituent Assembly,” he said.
Esperidião Amin was announced this Wednesday morning as rapporteur by the president of the CCJ, Otto Alencar (PSD-BA).
The native of Santa Catarina is a traditional right-wing senator who has moved closer to Bolsonarism in recent years. Recently, he began to risk losing the group’s support in his quest for re-election in Santa Catarina in 2026, which is expected to bring Carlos Bolsonaro, son of the former president, to compete for one of the state seats.
The report on the proposed sentence reduction could help increase his popularity with Santa Catarina’s large Bolsonarista electorate. The agenda is dear to this political group.
If it goes into effect, the proposal will reduce the sentence of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and free people who were sentenced to lesser sentences as part of the coup plot that culminated in the attacks on the headquarters of the three powers on January 8, 2023.
The proposal to reduce sentences was voted on in the early hours of Wednesday in the House. The president of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP), wanted the project to be dealt with expressly in the Chamber, but had to send the text for preliminary analysis to the CCJ following pressure from senators.
The proposal to reduce sanctions was blocked for months in the House because the PL insisted on full amnesty. The project moved forward after the Bolsonarista political group agreed to reduce the sanctions instead of pardoning them in full.
The approval of the deputies came a few days after Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) requested amnesty saying that he could give up being a candidate for president in exchange for the pardon of his father, Jair Bolsonaro, the main convict in the putsch process.
House Speaker Hugo Motta (Republicanos-PB), however, said he had raised the issue of his own volition and would not respond to any requests.
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