If convicted in the (Federal Supreme Court) for the five crimes of which it is accused, () may, based on the times provided by law, receive a minimum penalty of 12 and a half years to a maximum of 43 years in prison.
Part of the experts heard by Sheet It evaluates that the tendency is that punishment is fixed at medium or high level – but there are those who consider premature to evaluate the size of the penalties at this time.
The (Attorney General’s Office) presented this month the final allegations against Bolsonaro and seven other defendants pointed out as members of the central coup nucleus to maintain it in power after the election of () in 2022. The play was sent to the STF.
Lawyers and law teachers consulted by the report consider that the demonstration already offers indications on the penalty that can be imposed on the former president in the event that he is sentenced based on the indicated crimes and the facts narrated by the Attorney.
Bolsonaro composes the group with (former director of); Almir Garnier (former Navy Commander); (Former Minister of Justice); (Former Minister of); (Former chief of the aid of orders); Paulo Sérgio Nogueira (former Minister of Defense); and (former minister of the Civil House).
All are accused of armed criminal organization, violent abolition of the democratic rule of law and coup d’état. With the exception of branch, whose others also respond for qualified damage and deterioration of listed assets.
In describing the crime of armed criminal organization, the PGR indicated aggravation and causes of increased penalty (firearm employment, civil servant participation and, in the case of Bolsonaro, leadership exercise) that can punish this crime to overcome the 17 years in prison.
if convicted of all the crimes of which he is accused, in the framework given by the Prosecutor’s Office, the former president and other defendants could receive a sentence of more than 40 years in prison depending on how the ministers make the calculation.
Professor at FGV Law Rio, Thiago Bottino states that penalties should be elevated in situations such as those who promote or organize cooperation in the crime or direct the activity of others. According to him, many of these hypotheses are present in the accusation of the so -called main core of the coup plot.
Bottino says that part of those reported by January 8 was also accused of some of these crimes, but without applying the understanding that they played a prominent role. Thus, it evaluates that if they are condemned by the same crimes, the penalties of the main nucleus tend to be larger.
One by the office of Minister Alexandre de Moraes, rapporteur of January 8 cases in the Supreme Court, pointed out that most of the convicts whose actions were classified as serious had penalties ranged from three to 17 years and six months in prison.
For Bottino, the maximum penalty for Bolsonaro and other accused of the main nucleus is unlikely, as this would require the presence of all aggravating and causes of increased penalty. According to him, more elements would be needed, which do not seem to be present in the case.
But, according to the teacher, it is also expected “a certain coherence in the criteria that have already been adopted. It would hardly have, for people who had a more prominent performance in the crime, a smaller penalty than for those who had less prominent performance.”
Criminalist Marina Coelho, vice president of IASP (Institute of Lawyers of São Paulo), evaluates that the Attorney’s Office presented a detailed accusation that points to a high penalty. Its expectation, however, is that the ministers do not apply all penalties at the maximum time provided by law.
“I believe they will consider these penalties, evaluate proportionality from the causes of increase and raise to a level less than the maximum.”
Maria Carolina Amorim, chairman of the Criminal Law Commission of the Federal Council of (Brazilian Bar Association), evaluates that it is not possible to predict the size of the penalties because they vary a lot.
“Each sentence will be given according to the participation of each accused in that crime, so that we now calculate a level of how much each one would be is an exercise of future,” he says.
