Brazil is one of those who punish the less years of attempts to coup compared to democratic countries with geopolitical proximity, says a comparative law study.
Compliance also comes with the possibility of amnesty, given to all six attempts to coup failed in the country – to tell that of 2022. It remains open possible forgiveness for the seventh national coup plot that was unsuccessful, led by ().
This Thursday (11), the Supreme Federal Court (STF) by 4 votes to 1 due to the plot to try to keep it in power. He was sentenced to 27 years and 3 months in prison, being the first former president in the country punished for this crime. There is a possibility of appeal before a definitive conviction, and the defense has already stated that it will appeal.
The penalties from the conviction were added by ,.
The first, of violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law, has a maximum penalty of 8 years and earned Bolsonaro 6 years and 6 months in prison. The second, entitled in the legislation as a coup, has a maximum penalty of 12 years and generated to the former president 8 years and 2 months in prison.
Thus, Bolsonaro’s total penalty has reached 27 years for the sum of the crimes, although what the most punishes in the legislation does not exceed the 12 -year ceiling.
A 2023 study with ten other countries points out that Brazil is among those with the lowest maximum penalty for the attempted coup. Law experts Lucas Miranda, master from UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais), and Túlio Vianna, PhD from UFPR (Federal University of Paraná), compared Brazil with Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Canada, Mexico and Argentina to reach the conclusion.
Of all, Brazil is in second place – in Portugal -, with the smallest maximum penalty for the 12 -year coup attempt.
It is ahead in terms of mild legislation to Italy, with a maximum penalty of 5 years. , The United Kingdom and Canada predict life imprisonment. Argentina and France can also reach this punishment.
The condition for French legislation is that those involved are public authorities. In Argentina, the possibility of life imprisonment is “members of the congress who grant the national executive branch extraordinary powers that put the life, honor or property of Argentines to the government.”
Another difference between Brazil and some of these countries concerns the explicit prediction of punishment for the acts of preparation of the coup. While national legislation provides for punishment from the execution stage, other countries penalize the preparation, such as the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Canada and Mexico.
In this group, it is noteworthy that the US, with the most comprehensive model of freedom of expression, do not hesitate to typify acts of instigation and conspiracy, point out Miranda and Vianna. The country also foresees a penalty of 20 years for these cases.
The theme about executors became a central part of the defense strategy to try to acquit.
The ones are those practiced before the damage to the protected legal good is began, including the planning and acquisition of weapons, for example. Executive acts begin at the moment when violence or serious threat begins.
The difference was one of the grounds for the vote of acquittal to Bolsonaro given by Minister Luiz Fux. The magistrate stated that there was no imminent risk to legal assets in related actions – with evidence – Bolsonaro, as speeches against the ballot boxes, and therefore would not be able to speak of the coup.
Other ministers have identified the beginning of execution at different times in the chronology of the coup plot. Alexandre de Moraes, for example, listed, like the plan to kill authorities.
“All the legal discussion that had about this trial of the coup acts is basically whether or not there was the beginning of the execution,” says Túlio Vianna. “From a legal point of view, Brazil only punishes from the beginning of the execution of the coup. In most democratic states there is the express forecast of the conspiracy crime.”
He evaluates that Brazil needs to improve its laws on undemocratic crimes, expressly predicting the punishment for the phase of preparatory acts, with penalty for conspiracy and incitement.
Lucas Miranda estimates that the penalties in Brazil are low. For him, the country could be inspired by proposals such as punishing the cases of “concession of extraordinary power from Congress to the executive, which would be a type of white coup.”
The national history also shows leniency with coup attempts, according to historian Carlos Fico, from UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro).
Mapping of the expert points out that the amnesty was given to all failed coup in Brazil, such as attempted deposition of, in 1924, and the two attempts against, in 1956 and 1959.
In all, the historian counts 15 attempts or blows made in Brazil from the deposition of Pedro 2 in 1889. In mapping, he focuses on the forgiveness given to invested unsuccessful and does not indicate the amnesty of 1979, for example, for its specificity.
“It was not thought to amnesty those responsible for the 1964 coup. Also, as of course, it was granted at the initiative of the military regime itself. It eventually benefited the agents of repression, such as torturers, because the law extended the amnesty to crimes related to political crimes.”
Carlos I say he is pessimistic about the possibility of no forgiveness for the 2022 coup, given the Brazilian history. In Congress, even with the indication that any proposal that aims to contemplate undemocratic crimes.
