The president of the CCJ (Constitution and Justice Commission) of , (PSD-BA), proposed limiting the scope of the project that reduces the sentences of those convicted in the coup plot processes to facts linked to January 8th.
The so-called Dosimetry PL, already approved by the Chamber, has been the target of criticism because – the rapporteur of the project in Casa Baixa, deputy (Solidariedade-SP), denies that there is such a possibility.
“I’m absolutely sure that, as it stands, this text won’t pass,” said Otto Alencar this Monday (15) in an interview with GloboNews.
Any senator can offer amendments to projects. Committee presidents, as is the case with Otto, have more influence to achieve this type of change when a project is processed by their committee. The CCJ will be able to vote on the text on Wednesday (17).
Legislative technicians heard by the Sheet claim that the amendment could restrict the potential sentence reduction of the former president (PL), the . Criminal law experts, however, have differing assessments. Otto Alencar did not answer the reporter’s phone calls.
“The approved text allows the generic application of criminal dosimetry criteria to a wide range of crimes unrelated to the context that motivated the legislative initiative, including corruption crimes, environmental crimes, crimes committed with violence or serious threat and crimes of a sexual nature”, wrote the senator in the justification of the project.
Otto Alencar is against reducing sentences. He is also primarily responsible for the fact that the president of the Senate, (União Brasil-AP), .
The amendment restricts sentence reductions to “crimes committed in the context of the events that occurred on January 8, 2023, related to acts of invasion, depredation or damage to public or private property”.
The mention of these acts could be understood as a way to benefit from sentence reductions only for people who directly participated in these acts, without reducing the punishments for those who were considered leaders or mentors of the movement. The interpretation of this varies.
“The intention is clearly that [limitar a redução de penas]. The question is whether it will work”, said Davi Tangerino, professor of criminal law at UERJ (State University of Rio de Janeiro). “There is a reasonable chance that, even if it is put that way, someone will interpret it as a later, more beneficial criminal norm that should be extended to other situations”, he declared.
Criminalist Aury Lopes Jr., licensed professor at PUC (Pontifical Catholic University) of Rio Grande do Sul, said that the amendment allows those convicted of previous or subsequent acts linked to January 8th to benefit. “I don’t think it excludes Jair Bolsonaro,” he said.
USP (University of São Paulo) law professor Gustavo Badaró said it was difficult to dissociate the former president’s convictions from the attacks on the headquarters of Power. “The complaint against Bolsonaro itself says that they [o ex-presidente e diversos aliados] are the crucial nucleus of January 8th”, he declared.
Senator Esperidião Amin (PP-SC) is expected to present his opinion on the text on Wednesday. The CCJ should try to vote on the proposal on the same day. If it succeeds, it is possible that hours later there will be a deliberation in the Senate plenary.
Government sectors opposed to reducing the sentences of those convicted in the January 8 cases, however, are trying to postpone the vote. This would be done through a request for a review – that is, more time to analyze the text.
As the Legislative recess begins, in practice, on Friday (19), it would be possible to push the deliberation to next year depending on the deadline for analyzing the proposal.
A. If it comes into force in the way the deputies approved it, the project will reduce the time that Bolsonaro will spend in the closed regime of serving his sentence to something between and , depending on the interpretation.
If the rules in force today are maintained, the estimate is that the former president will spend 6 years and 10 months to just over 8 years in a closed regime. .
