Rapporteur on the proposal to reduce the sentences of those convicted in the coup plot process, Esperidião Amin (PP-SC) stated this Wednesday (10) that he is in favor of complete amnesty and that whether or not to pardon the convicted will be a political decision.
“I defend amnesty. Now, I’m not just a voter, I’m the rapporteur”, declared Esperidião, referring to the need for the rapporteur to start from the text already approved by the Chamber and to consider suggestions from the other senators.
He promised to deliver the report on the proposal to the House’s CCJ (Constitution and Justice Committee) by next Wednesday (17) and said that he will work for the project to be voted on later this year.
Amin did not rule out the possibility of the proposal that reduces penalties, under his report and analysis by the Senate, becoming an amnesty. “What is the impediment? The impediment will be due to a political decision,” he said.
“There is unanimous recognition, or at least a very strong majority, that the penalties are exorbitant,” he declared. He noted, however, that it is difficult to please everyone involved in a discussion like this: “If not even Helen, with all her beauty, was able to reconcile the Greeks and Trojans…”
The senator argues that an amnesty is constitutional and cited a vote during the drafting of the Constitution in which the veto on this type of pardon was removed. He also mentions the support of left-wing politicians, at the time, for this overthrow. “The intention to prohibit amnesty was defeated in the Constituent Assembly,” he said.
Esperidião Amin this Wednesday morning by the president of the CCJ, (PSD-BA).
The Santa Catarina native is a traditional right-wing senator who has moved closer to Bolsonarism in recent years. Recently, he began to face the risk of losing the group’s support in his quest for reelection in Santa Catarina in 2026, with the nomination that , son of the former president, for the state.
The report on the sentence reduction project could help boost its popularity among the large Bolsonarista electorate in Santa Catarina. The agenda is dear to this political group.
If it comes into force, the proposal will reduce that of the former president () and free people who were sentenced to lesser sentences in the process over the coup plot that culminated in the attacks on the headquarters of the three Powers on January 8, 2023.
The proposal to reduce sentences was voted on in the early hours of this Wednesday in the Chamber.
The president of the Senate, (União Brasil-AP), wanted the project, but had to send the text for preliminary analysis by the CCJ after pressure from senators.
The matter was held up for months in the Chamber because Bolsonaro’s PL insisted on a complete amnesty. The project moved forward after the former president’s political group agreed to reduce the punishments instead of forgiving them in full.
The approval by the deputies came days after the senator (PL-RJ) pressed for amnesty in exchange for pardoning his father, Jair Bolsonaro, the main convict in the coup plot process.
The president of the Chamber, (-PB) said that he raised the issue of his own free will and not to respond to any request.
