The proposal of the PL, the party of the former president, to grant it refers to at least two, according to scholars of the history of law.
Still in articulation, versions of the project presented so far and other defendants accused of leading the coup plot. The former president and allies will make a demonstration on Paulista Avenue this Sunday (29) in which the amnesty will be one of the motto.
According to the experts, the PL proposal looks in various aspects with the amnesty approved by Congress in May 1956, which, among other determinations, prevented the punishment of the aeronautics officers involved in the Jacareacanga revolt.
Occurred in the city of Pará that named the rebellion, the riot tried in vain to overthrow the newly deposed president.
The current project also approaches the decree of December 1961, which has anonistic, among other groups, the three chiefs of the Armed Forces. They had tried to prevent, months earlier, the inauguration of as president after the resignation of. Later, this time, successful.
For Raphael Peixoto, professor of the postgraduate degree in Law at the Federal Rural University of Semiarid (UFERSA) and researcher at the University of (UnB), the 1956 and 1961 contexts “” closely resemble what we see today because they are constitutional crises linked to the presidency dispute. ” The most famous of the country’s amnesties, is inserted, for example, in another context, a transition of regime.
According to him, who is a scholar of political amnesties throughout the republican period, the two episodes and today’s proposal are part of the same modus operandi, the “intra-elite reconciliation strategy to deal with these crises that violate the country’s constitution.”
“Those who participated in these movements spoke of conciliation, forget what had passed and look forward. From a historical point of view, however, these amnesties have a sense of impunity of military and civilians who underwent the Constitution,” says Peixoto.
The teacher also points out that “those are our first experiences of mass democracy, with national parties and a great polarization”. The political realities of previous amnesties, which occur in, are quite distinct from the current context.
The complaint against Bolsonaro, which covers the discussion of minutes to reverse the outcome of the election. The participants of the January 8 intended to generate one.
In 1961, power was in the hands of Jânio, who had the UDN conservatives on his plate. , the path indicated by the Constitution was the caption linked to labor – at the time, the vote for president and vice was separated, so, as had happened with Jânio and Jango, the elected were not necessarily in the same plate.
The military ministers of the government of Jânio and other exponents of the Armed Forces, however, openly rejected the inauguration of João Goulart, accusing him of being a communist.
On the opposite side, obtaining the support of the commander of the 3rd Army, General Machado Lopes, a fact that caused a crack in the military summit.
With an articulation headed by, parliamentarism emerged as a possible way out. Thus Goulart would become president, but would have less power than if presidentialism was maintained.
As Peixoto pointed out in his research, while sewing such a solution, the discussion about an amnesty was also beginning to those who tried to prevent Jango’s possession. At the time, the debate was marked by politicians who saw the measure as impunity and advocated the need for punishment.
Approved the text, the heads of the Armed Forces came out unharmed after acting unconstitutionally.
Among the beneficiaries of the 1961 amnesty, which was expanded during their processing, were still involved in the Aragarças Revolt, two years earlier and that tried to overthrow the JK government.
Some of the military involved in the episode had already participated in the Jacareacanga Revolt – a ministowed in 1956, when not only the group of revolts were forgiven but also the then Minister of War, Henrique Lott, leader of an action that became known as November, in late 1955.
Accompanied by dozens of generals, Lott ordered the tanks to leave the streets to overthrow interim president Carlos Luz, who planned to challenge the inauguration of President -elect Juscelino Kubitschek. The purpose of the countergolpe was to guarantee democratic legality. To fulfill this end, however, Lott used unconstitutional means.
“These cases of 1956 and 1961 are not only quartered. They reflect the discontent of a particular political group that is somehow seeing power,” says Diego Nunes, professor of history of criminal law at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) and organizer of the book “Crimes against the Democratic Rule of Law”.
For Nunes, the current proposal approaches at least one aspect of the Amnesty of 1979.
“What seems to me to be a common point in this 1979 strategy in relation to the amnesty proposed now is the idea of self -annisting, that is, an amnesty for those who were in power in the late 1970s and for those who now, in 2025, maintain great strength in Congress and are linked to these groups [golpistas]”He says.
According to Nunes, the central problem of the Bolsonarist project is the attempt of “preventive rehabilitation” of political leaders who have become defendants.
The amnesty on January 8 are already openly treated as an electoral agenda of 2026. Recently, the senator (PL-RJ) stated that the condition for receiving support from the former president.
FGV Raquel Scalcon’s Criminal Law teacher states that, in general, amnesty implies extinguishing punishment to a fact, as would be the case of January 8, while benefiting a group of people and grace, specific individuals. Another difference, according to the current interpretation, is that the amnesty would also cover side effects, such as a.
While amnesty is the competence of Congress, pardon and grace can be granted by the President of the Republic. In the right field, the governors of Minas Gerais, (Novo), and Goiás, (União Brasil), have already publicly committed to forgive Bolsonaro if they are elected to the Plateau.
Understand the episodes that approach the current amnesty proposal:
Amnesty of 1956
It was February 1956, just ten days after the inauguration of Juscelino Kubitschek on January 31 of that year, when the Air Force officers began the movement known as Jacareacanga revolt. The goal was to overthrow the new government. With the support of JK himself, the amnesty was approved by the congress and published months later.
In addition to the episode of Jacareacanga, those who had participated in the counterattack in November 1955, who toppled the then interim president, Carlos Luz, were amnesty, given the prospect that he planned to challenge JK’s inauguration. Despite being objective to ensure democratic legality, such action has used unconstitutional means.
Amnesty of 1961
In 1961, after the then President Jânio Quadros resigns to office, the path appointed by the Constitution was the inauguration of his deputy, João Goulart. However, the military ministers of the government of Jânio openly rejected Jango’s inauguration, accusing him of being a communist. There was resistance, and the movement was not totally successful.
As an intermediate solution, parliamentarism was approved, which reduced Jango’s powers as president. At the same time that such a solution was struggled, the discussion began about an amnesty, and with that, the armed forces chiefs left unconstitutional after acting.
Among the beneficiaries of the 1961 amnesty, which was expanded during their processing, were still involved in the Aragarças Revolt, two years earlier and that tried to overthrow the JK government. Some of the military involved in the episode had already participated in Jacareacanga in 1956.
