Brazil lawmakers approve Bill that could cut Bolsonaro sentence after ruckus

BRASILIA – Brazil’s Lower House of Congress approved a Bill early on Dec 10 that could slash former president Jair Bolsonaro’s prison sentence for plotting a coup, after efforts by a lawmaker to disrupt the proceedings sparked chaos in Parliament.

The far-right former leader has been serving a 27-year term since November after his conviction for a scheme

to stop President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 elections.

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 see his sentence cut to just over two years.

After a heated debate that saw one lawmaker forcibly removed by the police, the Lower House of Congress approved the Bill on the morning of Dec 10. It still awaits Senate ratification before becoming law.

Bolsonaro’s supporters in the conservative-majority Congress have for months weighed different options to ease his punishment, including a possible amnesty that fizzled out after countrywide protests.

After that failed, congressman Sostenes Cavalcante said: “The first step to achieving our goal will be the reduction of sentences.”

On Dec 9, efforts to vote on the Bill led to turmoil in the Chamber of Deputies.

The police forcibly removed government-allied leftist deputy Glauber Braga after he denounced a “coup offensive” and occupied the Speaker’s chair, according to footage broadcast on local television.

The broadcast was interrupted, journalists were removed from the plenary hall and the debate was suspended. The session resumed after order was restored.

Mr 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 into law, “Bolsonaro will see his sentence reduced... to something like two years and four months in prison”, Mr Paulinho da Forca, who is leading negotiations on the Bill, said in a video sent to AFP news agency.

It would also grant parole to about 100 Bolsonaro supporters imprisoned for the Jan 8, 2023, assault on government buildings in Brasilia, shortly after Mr Lula took office.

However, it will be up to the judiciary to reformulate sentencing under the new conditions approved by Congress.

Bolsonaro’s defence team has also asked the Supreme Court to authorise his release for a surgical procedure owing to his deteriorating health, according to documents obtained by AFP.

His lawyers again sought for the court to allow the former president to serve his sentence at home for “humanitarian” reasons as they requested weeks ago.

‘Authoritarian measures’

Mr Lindbergh Farias, leader of the ruling Worker Party in Congress, said the initiative was “unacceptable” as it was clearly aimed at “creating a specific law to benefit Bolsonaro”.

Conservative house president Hugo Motta, meanwhile, faced criticism for ordering journalists out.

In a statement, the FENAJ national press association and a journalist’s union slammed the “episode of censorship and aggression against the press”.

The Bill had been stalled for several months but resurfaced a few days after Bolsonaro

anointed his son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, as his successor

ahead of 2026 presidential elections.

Mr Flavio Bolsonaro said on Dec 7 he would be willing to withdraw his 2026 presidential candidacy in exchange for an amnesty for his father.

In late November, Jair Bolsonaro’s lawyers said they would appeal against his detention that “could put his life at risk” owing to his frail health.

Bolsonaro has a history of abdominal issues after being stabbed during the 2018 campaign and has required several follow-up surgical procedures.

The recently submitted medical documents obtained by AFP “reveal a significant worsening of Bolsonaro’s health” that requires his “immediate hospitalisation”, his defence team said in the request to the Supreme Court. AFP