Ruckus in Brazil Congress over bid to reduce Bolsonaro jail term / Photo: © AFP
Ruckus in Brazil Congress over bid to reduce Bolsonaro jail term
Chaotic scenes erupted in Brazil's Congress Tuesday as a lawmaker disrupted lower house efforts to vote on a bill that could slash former president Jair Bolsonaro's 27-year prison sentence for a coup plot.
The far-right former leader began serving his sentence in November after his conviction for a scheme to stop President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 elections.
Bolsonaro's supporters in the conservative-majority Congress have for months weighed different options, including a possible amnesty for the 70-year-old that fizzled out after countrywide protests.
"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," congressman Sostenes Cavalcante told a press conference.
On Tuesday, efforts to vote on the sentence-reduction bill led to turmoil in the lower house Chamber of Deputies.
Government-allied leftist deputy Glauber Braga was forcibly removed by police officers after denouncing a "coup offensive" and occupying 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.
The protesting deputy, Braga, said he was exercising his right "not to accept as a done deal an amnesty for a group of coup plotters."
The bill is aimed at significantly reducing prison sentences for several crimes, including attempting a coup d'etat.
In practice, it would also grant parole to about one hundred Bolsonaro supporters imprisoned for the January 8, 2023 assault on government buildings in Brasilia, shortly after Lula took office.
According to the text, the proposal seeks "the pacification" of Brazil.
If passed by the lower house, the bill will need to be approved by the Senate.
If this happens, "Bolsonaro will see his sentence reduced from twenty-seven years and three months to something like two years and four months in prison," Paulinho da Forca, who is leading negotiations on the bill, said in a video sent to AFP.
However, it will be up to the judiciary to reformulate sentencing under the new conditions approved by Congress.
- 'Authoritarian measures' -
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 said that those who "attack the functioning of institutions operate according to the same logic as the extremists they so often criticize."
Meanwhile, Motta faced criticism for ordering journalists out of the house.
In a statement, the FENAJ national press association and a journalist's union slammed the "episode of censorship and aggression against the press."
They accused Motta of implementing "authoritarian measures" reminiscent of the country's dictatorship era.
The bill had been stalled for several months in Congress but resurfaced a few days after Bolsonaro anointed his son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, as his successor ahead of 2026 presidential elections.
On Sunday, Flavio said he would be willing to withdraw his 2026 presidential candidacy in exchange for an amnesty for his father.
(U.Stolizkaya--DTZ)
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