The Chamber of Deputies approved, in the early hours of this Wednesday (10), the so-called Dosimetry PL, which reduces the sentences of those convicted of the acts of January 8th. The text goes to the Senate. Former president Jair Bolsonaro, convicted of a coup d’état and serving 27 years and three months in prison, will benefit if the project moves forward.
Voting on the base text ended at 2:27 am with 291 votes in favor and 148 against. Afterwards, the House began voting on six highlights (changes to the original text).
Hastily drafted by the President of the House, Hugo Motta (Republicano-PB), on Tuesday afternoon (9), the project was voted on at the end of a tense day in Congress. Earlier, deputy Gláuber Braga (PSol-RJ) was removed from the plenary for occupying the table. He was protesting against the vote on his own impeachment, scheduled for this Wednesday.
The rapporteur, deputy Paulinho da Força (Solidariedade-SP), said in a press conference earlier that the proposal, if approved, will release all prisoners from January 8th. “With this text, all the people who were arrested will be released. The lawyers will have to ask the Supreme Court”, he stated. In relation to former president Jair Bolsonaro, sentenced to 27 years and 3 months in prison, he stated that, “with the remission of sentences, it gives 2 years and 4 months”.
According to him, the report should also benefit people who are serving sentences with ankle bracelets and those who left Brazil. “The reduction I make is general, there is no distinction between this and that. So, I’m going to reduce it from the girl with the lipstick and to Bolsonaro too.”
Paulinho da Força also said that he sees the project as a chance to “pacify” the country and that it “corrects excesses without exempting responsibility” from those who broke the law.
The reading of the report began shortly before midnight, causing outrage among government deputies, who complained that the agenda would be voted on “in the dead of night”. Despite this, the withdrawal from the agenda was rejected and Motta continued with the vote. Subsequently, PT members and allies asked for a postponement to the next session, but they also failed.
Deputies also criticized the proximity of the vote to the parliamentary recess. They recalled Flavio Bolsonaro’s statements regarding his candidacy, in which he said he had a “price” for withdrawing, which would be amnesty for his father, who can benefit from the Dosimetria PL.
On the right, congressmen highlighted that the project “is not ideal” and that they will continue fighting for unrestricted amnesty for those convicted.
Bolsonaro’s prison
The minister of the Federal Supreme Court (), ordered, on the 25th, the immediate beginning of the ex-president’s sentence. The order came after the First Panel of the Court rejected the defense’s last appeal and declared the final judgment of the criminal action that condemned the former government’s top leadership for an attempted coup d’état.
Bolsonaro is detained in a “General Staff Room” at the PF headquarters in , a legal prerogative that ensures accommodation different from common cells. Moraes’ order includes the requirement for a medical team to be available full-time to monitor the former president’s health.
